A Tail of Mythos
by GodsShadow
Summary: Naruto D. Uzumaki has wanted nothing more than to be free after spending a year in the worst prison. He will become the man with the most freedom in the world. The King of the Pirates. Armed with a Devil Fruit that grants him the powers of myth, and a loyal crew behind him, he will take the world by storm. Fem Luffy!
1. The Beginning

Chapter One: The Beginning

**Impel Down – One Year Before Canon**

Sadi, or 'Little Sadi' as she forces her subordinates to call her, felt like she was walking on air as she skipped down one of the many corridors of her sanctuary. She was happier than she had ever been inside the lowest level of Eternal Hell, otherwise known as Level 6 of Impel Down.

Ironically, the 'Harshest' level of Impel Down, used to be the tamest when it came to punishments. The inmates were given minimal food and water, and were never allowed to move. But that was it.

No gruesome torture, no back-breaking labor, and no boiling people alive. It was _so_ boring! Sadi nearly wept when she had heard she was being reassigned to this dreadful level. Even the inmates called it 'Eternal Hell' because they had nothing to do besides sit and pass time. That, and the fact that anyone assigned to this level would be here for life. The inmates would wish for death because it was simply more interesting than eternal boredom!

But recently it had gotten a bit more interesting, Sadi had been given reign over the deepest layer of Hell, and used it gleefully to torment each and every soul still breathing within the cages.

She spent hours making them scream and moan. She took special care with each one, agonizingly tormenting them until she built up to one final powerful climax.

It was pure _ecstasy!_

She passed by the many large cells and cages that lined the walls of her workplace. The entire place was decayed and dull, with little to no lighting provided at all. The 'residents' stayed still and quiet, trying their best not draw any attention to themselves. Not that they could move in the first place, a combination of chains, malnourishment, and extreme injuries kept them in place. If not for the occasional groan and whimper, she would have assumed they were all corpses. She smiled wickedly as the few aware enough to see her visibly shrunk away, frightened by the very sight of a Chief Guard.

She absolutely loved it.

The aura of despair and hopelessness that this floor had, gave her a feeling of bliss unlike any other. While she usually preferred her playthings to scream and beg for mercy, she had been developing a rather refined taste toward the sound of a truly broken man.

The sound of her stiletto heels clicking on stone echoed through the tunnel, and she laughed as the inmates flinched with every step. They had been 'trained' to associate the sound with pain, and she enjoyed watching a fleeting glimpse of panic flash through their dull eyes as she passed them by.

She drew attention quickly as she maneuvered through the halls with practiced efficiency. It was hard not to when she was wearing a blinding pink outfit, contrasting sharply with the dull greys that covered their prison. Her outfit was skimpy and open, revealing the entire underside of her breasts and leaving her entire stomach exposed. Her waistband barely held her pants together, and left her hips bare. The majority of her 'clothing' was covering her arms and legs with bright, shiny, material flowing low with stylized rips. A bright pink pair of horns sat atop her bushy orange hair, combined with a wicked looking pitchfork, she looked every bit the devil to the inmates.

She twirled her pitchfork around happily as she skipped to her destination. She had been overjoyed when her superiors pulled her away from the higher levels just a few short months ago. At first, she was extremely depressed, thinking she would have to stop her 'fun' with the inmates, but that was until she heard she was actually getting promoted. The Warden was impressed by her sadistic streak and moved her to deal with the stronger willed inmates on the lower two floors.

Their 'will' didn't last long against her.

But that mattered little at the moment. She had already grown bored with the remains of the men she had dealt with. She was instead focused entirely on a pair of individuals she had been introduced to just a week ago.

The higher-ups took a special interest in these two and assigned her to focus entirely on them. She thought it was a bit overkill, but after one long, glorious, day spent with her two new toys, she didn't care.

Her cheeks grew flushed as she remembered her 'first time' with the pair. They were so... wonderful! The man, if you could call him that, was beautiful and strong, somehow managing to keep his muscular build, despite a year of minimal action or food. He had tried his best to keep from screaming after he learned that she got satisfaction out of it. It was so cute.

And the woman! How delicious she was! She was proud and stoic, refusing to show any emotion in front of her captor. Her tenacity was astounding, she had managed to last the entire first day without a peep. Although she finished with bleeding gums. Still to this day, the woman had yet to scream. Only whimpers and growls from any abuse she took. If it were any other prisoner, she may have been annoyed, may have brought out her harsher methods, or may have even just simply killed them. But instead, she shook with pleasure, intent to draw out this session to one powerful climax. Her instructions gave her nothing but time, and she was going to make the most of it.

She preferred working with the man, anyway, and was content to watch the woman's hope crumble alongside the man's sanity. Only then, would she make the woman _scream_.

The skip in her step grew as she rounded the final corner. She was already hot and worked up from the stroll through the cells, and was ready to work out some release. She approached the final cell and peered in with glazed eyes.

There, chained to the wall, was her favorite prize.

Long platinum blonde hair, fell down to his back, uncut from the entire year he had spent in chains. A firm, muscular chest was exposed to the open air, covered in various glowing-red lashes and welts that she had inflicted the day before. His once-pristine features were dirty and rough, battered from the long stay inside her personal sanctuary. Strong arms were bound above him, chained to the wall to prevent the slightest movement. And finally, his strangest feature. Nine long, golden, tails were limp against the floor beneath him.

She had yet to discover their purpose, she had tried to cut them, but found she couldn't. She had tried to burn them, but the fire washed off like a liquid. She had tried to smash them, but found their owner unaffected. It was as if he couldn't feel them at all.

Part of her assignment was to understand the features of the man's Devil-Fruit, but she had yet to learn anything. He would scream for her, but never talk. She assumed that the Seastone Cuffs had been affecting his senses of them, since she never saw them move.

His face, was concealed by the dark and his hair as his head hung limply in front of him.

He was sleeping! How cute!

She happily reached for the keys to unlock the cell, before pausing...

_'Sleeping?'_

She had ensured that the pain alone would prevent him from getting any rest, and she had made well enough noise to wake him with her entrance.

She looked back up and inspected him closer, faster this time.

His chest wasn't moving.

Her heart jumped with a small amount of fear instead of her normal excitement. She had been a bit too excited with her last session, and used some of her more vicious methods, hoping to get a reaction out of the girl. She was sure his body was strong enough, after all the other inmates of this floor had survived.

She paused in thought. He was much younger, she realized. Only in his teens if she had to guess. Panic started to creep in as she noticed his total lack of movement. He wasn't breathing.

She had been ordered to keep them _alive_.

She fumbled with the keys quickly and nearly broke down the Seastone door with all the force she threw it open with.

Rushing to his side, she placed a hand on his chest.

No heartbeat.

As dread filled her, she dropped her pitchfork and the keys to the cell beside her. She reached for his chin and tried to pull his face up so she could see it.

But instead, his head snapped up on its own.

A sharp, blood-red, set of slitted eyes glared back at her with fierce determination. They _pulsed_ and seemed to glow in the dark cell.

Her vision blurred and her body stiffened. She felt the world spin around her.

She collapsed.

* * *

He heard the young woman give a sigh of relief from beside him as their tormenter fainted.

Stage One was complete.

They both stiffed as the dominatrix shifted on the ground in front of them. With slow, zombie-like movements, the Guard sat up and stared back at them with dull, lifeless eyes.

A small mental command from the man, and Sadi reached down to pick up the set of keys she had dropped.

With movements agonizingly slow to the two inmates, Sadi made her way to the shackles on the man's wrists.

Two short clicks, and the man was released.

He let out a hoarse groan as he moved for the first time in an entire year. His voice damaged from screaming.

He stood up and stretched his limbs, happy for the first time in a long while. He glared down at the Guard. A year ago he would have hesitated to harm a defenseless woman, but after a week of the most brutal torture, he had ever experienced...

CLANG!

He mercilessly slammed her head into the Seastone bars of his cell. It wouldn't kill her, but he made sure to just hit her hard enough to send her back into unconsciousness.

He reached for the keys and freed his companion, who wasted no time latching onto him in a fierce hug. He nearly stumbled back from the force, but managed to catch her in time to keep his balance.

She was crying openly against him, staring at the various cuts and bruises that covered his torso.

The 'Devil' had chosen to single him out for some reason, so he had sustained the majority of the injuries.

She sobbed her apologies and he wrapped her up in a hug.

All nine of his tails moved alongside him, and wrapped around her protectively. He whispered soothing words into her ear, doing his best to calm her down. He hastily reminded her of the plan.

They were free, in a sense, but not safe. Not yet.

The first and hardest step was complete.

Now they needed to escape.

And from the deepest level of Hell, it was going to be a difficult task.

After his companion had settled down, he took another look at his torturer. He had already been familiar with her, but he needed to be absolutely perfect. He leaned down, eyes combing over every inch of the woman's form. Memorizing every intricate detail.

Another flash of his red eyes, and he stood up.

His form shifted and he grew taller. His long blonde hair melded into a bushy, unkempt mess of orange. His muscles shrank, his arms and legs both becoming slim and dainty. His chest shrank, but his body flared out with womanly curves. A glaring pink outfit slowly appeared, covering his form entirely.

The woman gasped as her blonde companion shifted his form into a perfect replica of their Guard. She subconsciously backed away as he turned to face her. He smirked and lifted Sadi's unruly orange bangs from his brow, exposing his piercing red eyes.

The woman shook her surprise away, and watched as 'Sadi' cuffed her counterpart into the place he had just been shackled. Another flash, and the very same man was back, shackled to the wall as if he had never left.

She jumped with surprise as she glanced at the spot she was chained, finding an identical version of herself, still chained to the wall. Curious, she reached out to touch the face of 'herself', but her hand just passed straight through, and she felt nothing but the wall behind the image.

An Illusion.

She turned back to her smirking companion and together they began Stage Two.

She closed her eyes in concentration, and felt her body shrinking.

'Sadi' watched with fascination as his companion shrunk visibly before his eyes. A moment later, and he was looking back into the sharp yellow eyes of a small black cat.

Satisfied that his Illusion would hold, they exited and locked the cell. He was still far too weak, so the Illusion would only last for an hour.

Plenty of time to walk out of Impel Down.

* * *

**Author's Notes (Minor Spoilers)**

The first chapter is short, but I plan to upload the second one immediately, this was just an introduction.

But before you go and read the next one, please tell me what you thought of this one! I've been wanting to do a One Piece fic for a long time, as I feel that One Piece doesn't have nearly enough FanFics for it.

Can you guess who the Female inmate is? I'm curious if anyone could guess it correctly.

I was very surprised to see the lack of Naruto/One Piece cross-overs. Even with the perfect Devil-fruit existing inside One Piece Canon! Are there actually Fics that use it and I'm just missing them?

Just to be clear. This is completely inside the One Piece Universe. Meaning, Naruto is not from the Elemental Nations, he doesn't use Chakra, he isn't a Shinobi, and most importantly he _doesn't_ have Kurama inside of him, nor has he ever. He was born and raised inside the One Piece Universe.


	2. The Rubber Queen

Chapter Two: The Rubber Queen

**One Year Later – East Blue**

"Are we almost there?" A calm, masculine voice called out to her from behind.

She stopped her monitoring of the ship's steering device for a moment and turned over her shoulder.

There, lazily reclining in one of the seats of their vessel, was her sole companion.

Uzumaki D. Naruto.

His platinum blonde hair had regained some of its color over the year since they had journeyed out together. It was still a softer, almost silvery, yellow but it no longer had the washed-out dullness that it had the year before. It only fell down to his shoulders, keeping it rather short in comparison to how long it used to be.

The majority of his chest was exposed, as he only wore a burnt orange, kimono-style robe, trimmed in black, held closed at the waist by a small black sash. A black pair of shorts lay underneath the robe. Around the back, just before his waistline, the robe split in half, leaving space for his long nine tails to flow from behind him freely. They were settled on either side of him, resting against the seat as the ship made its way along the ocean.

Two cute, yellow, fox ears popped out of his hair, sitting atop his head and flowing slightly with the breeze.

But his most defining feature, in her opinion, was on his face. It had come as quite a shock when she had gotten her first clear look at him.

His face now proudly showed his six whisker marks, three on each cheek. They fit his features completely, and added a sense of emotion to his every expression. Something that she had grown to appreciate within the year they had spent together.

She could say without hesitation that she was closer to Naruto than she had been with anyone else in her life.

They had gone through Hell together, after all.

Something like that makes you friends for life, and neither had even considered separating.

Not that she would hear of it, even if Naruto did want to separate. The whiskered blonde truly had her indebted to him, although he would never admit it.

She knew, and that was all that mattered to her.

"Yugito?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at Naruto again. His whiskers fell along with his face, and his eyes, despite being a fearsome red, still managed to show his concern.

She nodded and turned back to the front of the ship, "You should be able to see it now."

Naruto glanced past her, and saw she was right. A small dot in the distance, growing in size as they approached, revealed that they were finally about to reach land.

The island was still pretty far off, far too great a distance for a normal human to spot. But there was nothing normal about them, and their pairs of slitted eyes had several perks. The enhanced vision was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Their target was supposedly on the island, if their 'Client' had accurate information. The information was three years old, so they had some lingering doubt, but the cheerful man had seemed rather confident that the target would still be here.

They were aboard a fast boat, but considering the sun was just barely peaking above the horizon, they still had plenty of time.

So they were in no serious rush, and glided across the waves at a pace that could be considered 'leisurely'.

At least, it was to them.

Seeing they wouldn't be arriving for a while he leaned back into his seat, satisfied to relax until they arrived.

He idly let his eyes drift over his female companion. Yugito. She gave no family name, but that was hardly a rare case in this world. Many went their entire lives without speaking, or sometimes even knowing, their family names. There are many general reasons for it. Orphans, outcasts, or sometimes even abandoning their names entirely, due to a dangerous Pirate lineage.

He never asked, and she never told him. He was fine with that, it really made no difference to him. Yugito was Yugito and nothing would change that.

She was wearing a deep blue halter top, leaving her shoulders and arms exposed to keep cool. It cut off before her waist, leaving a strip of skin exposed at her stomach. The shirt itself clung tightly to her chest, accenting her generous bosom. A white cloud pattern was displayed along her left breast. A simple pair of tight black shorts went down to her mid-thigh. A pair of fingerless gloves covered her hands.

Her blonde hair, just a shade darker than his own, was wrapped tightly in bandages as it flowed behind her from the wind.

He knew she preferred to dress more conservatively, but they were on the ocean, and she enjoyed wearing clothes that wouldn't limit her flexibility. Plus, when you consider how every _other_ female seems to dress out on the sea, she _would_ be considered conservative.

She was older than him, but he wasn't sure how much. Not that he'd ever ask, he knew there were certain questions you simply didn't ask a female, and age was pretty high up. She looked to be in her twenties, although with Devil Fruit powers it was hard to tell.

The vessel drew closer to the island, and the features became clearer. There seemed to be a large city in the center, along the coast, but that was not where they intended to go.

Instead, they turned east, heading for a small village to the side of a large mountain.

Finding a port was rather easy, since the village itself was along the coast, so they quickly docked and tied their boat.

Climbing onto the pier, Naruto helped Yugito up after him, then they headed into the village together.

* * *

"Cozy little village, isn't it?" Yugito said as they walked down the cobblestone path that ran alongside the wharf.

It was a seaside town, and the locals all seemed to be extremely happy. The houses were all wooden and warm, and the paths that strayed from the shore were made of dirt, giving it a rural feeling.

Naruto nodded his agreement, "'Foosha Village' A village of windmills, that's a pretty accurate name." He said gesturing to the many windmills that dotted the landscape. It seemed a little silly to name your village after something like windmills.

"But it begs the question. Which came first? The Village or the Windmills?" Yugito pointed out as they strolled down the path.

"The Windmills." A gruff voice from their side came.

They turned to see an older looking man, sitting on a porch of one of the houses overlooking the docks. He was dressed casually and a wooden cane rested against the arm of his chair.

He scratched at his small beard, "I'm the mayor of this village. Woop Slap. Can I help you young'ns with something?"

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah... We are looking for someplace called 'Party's Bar'"

The mayor raised an eyebrow at the request but shrugged and pointed off to the side.

Sure enough, a few buildings over, a freshly-painted green sign was posted above a small tavern, with the name 'Party's Bar'.

They gave the old man their thanks and went inside.

* * *

"Lufia slow down! You're going to choke if you keep that up." The bartender warned her favorite customer for the umpteenth time. Every time she made food for Lufia the young girl ate as quickly as she could, without being a slob of course. Makino had managed to beat _some_ table manners into her head. It was only natural that she learned to be a proper lady!

That didn't stop her from inhaling the food. She just made no mess when she did it.

Lufia frowned as she bit into a large piece of meat, "But Maki~Nooo~! This is going to be the last time I'll eat your cooking in a while!" She pouted childishly.

"Then you should take your time and savor it." Makino said firmly, already getting to work cleaning the pile of plates stacked beside the young girl.

_'Lufia?'_ Naruto blinked at the strange girl. She was eating more meat than even he could put away, dressed in a red bikini top that covered her large breasts, and a simple pair of blue shorts. A yellow sash was wrapped around her waist, and he could see a straw hat hanging from her neck.

Straw Hat? Check.

Total lack of modesty? Check.

Likes Meat? Check, if those thirteen plates were anything to go by.

Yep. That confirms it. This is the girl they were searching for. It was a freak coincidence to run into her in the first building they checked, but Naruto just chalked it up to his absurd luck.

"Excuse me?"

Lufia bit into another piece of meat and glanced at the young man. "Yes?" She managed to get out between bites. She was still hungry!

Naruto smiled and sat down on the stool beside her, "Can we talk to you for a moment?"

"Un!" She nodded without stopping her devouring of the meat.

"Well, my name is Naruto," He continued, unbothered by her lack of attention. He would get this kind of thing from his 'Family' all the time, so he was used to it. "I have a package for Monkey D. Lufia, that is you right?"

Lufia nodded again and smiled as she tossed the clean bone onto the now-empty plate. "Who's it from?" She asked, not all that interested when she has a new plate in front of her, provided by Makino.

He reached into his robes and pulled out an orange package. "Your brother Ace."

Suddenly, the meat was forgotten, and a napkin appeared in her hands. She wiped the grease off as fast as humanly possible, and nearly ripped the package out of his hands.

Despite her excitement, she opened the package slowly, taking care not to rip the wrapping itself. She hadn't heard a word about her brother in three years! Of course, she was excited.

Inside the package, was a white envelope, presumably containing a letter, and a small wooden box.

Naturally, she reached for the box first-

"You should probably read the letter first." Naruto squashed her excitement at getting a present.

She pouted slightly but complied, opening the envelope with the same carefulness she used on the wrapping.

She gave it a quick scan, seeing it was much longer than she thought Ace was ever going to write her, at least three pages.

But her excitement didn't wane, and she quietly began to read.

The other three occupants of the bar just waited patiently as she worked her way through the letter.

Her face went through a full myriad of emotions, from joy, sadness, excitement, and finally settled on happy, with a set of misty eyes.

Her smile betrayed her tears, and everyone could see she was overjoyed to receive the letter. "So Ace joined the Whitebeard Pirates... Guess he's pretty far ahead of me now..." She smiled wider and wiped her eyes, "Doesn't matter, I'm still going to be the Pirate Queen."

She turned to the box, and smiled up at Naruto, "Ace said you were going to explain this part."

Naruto nodded and opened the box, showing her the inside.

With no small amount of excitement, she looked inside to find... "Paper?" Her smile became strained as she looked at Naruto.

Naruto gave a fox-like grin. "Paper." He confirmed.

She visibly deflated on the bar, she was hoping he was going to send her some super-awesome pirate stuff. Like a treasure chest! Paper was just _borrring~. _

Naruto followed her train of thought easily, and pulled the paper out of the box. "Don't count it out yet, Lufia. It's special, _Grand Line_, paper."

She perked up slightly and gave him a look as he held it out to her. She looked at the small piece as he opened his palm. After watching it for a moment, the paper jumped slightly to the south.

She raised her head off the table and watched it again. Every few seconds it seemed to nudge its way to the edge of his hand.

"It's called a Vivre Card." He explained, "The pieces of the paper will always move towards each other, no matter where they are in the world."

Lufia's eyes sparkled as she looked at the unassuming piece of paper. The Grand Line sure was amazing! She'd definitely see it soon. _'But wait...' _She paused in thought.

"Does that mean this points me to Ace?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yep. And his points to yours. He wanted you to know that no matter where you go, you'll still be able to find each other."

Lufia smiled happily once again. Her brother really did know how to make her happy. Somehow that flimsy piece of paper was worth more than a chest of gold to her.

A stray light caught her eye and she glanced down to see her new Vivre Card. One of the corners had turned orange.

It took her another second to realize her Vivre Card had caught on fire!

"Ahhh!" She panicked and tried to snuff it out with her fingers. Surprisingly, she didn't feel it burn. It didn't even feel warm. She checked again, and it was still on fire, but didn't seem to be spreading.

Naruto caught her attention again. "That's another feature of the Vivre Card. When the owner is in danger, it burns. The card reflects their health, so if it turns really small, it means they are in trouble. But if it is just a tiny portion, like this, then it just means they are slightly injured."

She blinked, and looked back at the card. So Ace was fine then? "What happens when they get better?"

"The card will restore itself to its original size." He glanced back down at the card. "Considering it's early in the morning, and the card is still almost full. Ace is probably just training right now."

Lufia nodded in agreement. They were both certainly rough when it came to training. It would make sense if he had injured himself somehow.

"The card is pretty hard to replace." Naruto said, "So you should keep it somewhere safe."

She thought about it for a moment. She reached behind her neck and pulled out her straw hat. Taking the Vivre card, she placed it inside the band of her hat. It would be safe there.

She placed her hat back on her head happily, and turned to look at her guest.

She hadn't really taken a good look at him, not all that interested until she had heard about Ace. But now, she found he was kind of strange.

His voice was soft, but had an almost purr-like accent to it. His features were weird too.

The first thing she noticed, was his eyes. Blood-red and slitted, they startled her for a moment, but she thought it was pretty cool. The whisker marks on his cheek made him look like one of those annoying red animals she tried to catch when her Gramps would toss her into the dangerous forests outside of Mt. Corvo.

_'A fox... I think.'_ She frowned at the thought. She still never managed to catch one of those. Even when she was really hungry! They just kept hopping into places she couldn't reach. And she could swear they were laughing at her!

Those two animals ears on his head didn't help the image either...

_'Wait... animal ears?'_ She blinked and looked again. Indeed, on top of his head sat two yellow fox ears, and as she looked closer, she noticed the nine bushy fox tails swaying behind him.

"THAT IS SO COOL!" Suddenly, she was beside him looking up at him with stars in her eyes. "Why do you have animal parts?! Can you move them?! Can you use them to fight?! Can they shoot lasers?!"

Naruto sweatdropped at that last one and laughed at her excitement. She seemed a bit childish, but that was fine. He was too, at times.

One of his tails snaked up between them, and Lufia had her starry eyes locked on it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

It slowly moved up to her eye-level, and the tip poked her on the nose.

"In that order? I ate a Devil Fruit. Yes. Yes. And I haven't tried yet." Naruto replied.

"Awww..." She pouted, disappointed she wouldn't get to see any lasers. Yet.

Wait... "You ate a Devil-Fruit too?" She looked back up at him with surprise. She hadn't seen anyone with a Fruit other than her own Rubber powers.

He nodded, "I ate the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine-Tailed Fox. So I'm a Vulpine-Man." He paused and offered his hand. "We still haven't gotten properly introduced. My name is Uzumaki D. Naruto, nice to meet you."

She hopped back on her stool and sat cross-legged. She took his hand in her own with a big smile. "Monkey D. Lufia!" She kept her smile and hooked a finger into her lip. She pulled, showing that her skin could stretch to a considerable distance. "I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit! So I'm a Rubber-Woman!" She let go and her cheek snapped back into place.

She didn't show any discomfort from the snap, despite the considerable noise it had made. Interesting.

He smiled back and gestured to his companion, who was now chatting with the bartender a few seats over. "That is Yugito, she's my companion. She ate a Devil Fruit too." He added since she seemed to like them.

"Really?!" She gushed, "Which one?"

Yugito turned to them with a smile, "I ate the Cat Cat Fruit, Model: Two-Tailed Cat. So I'm a Cat-Woman."

Lufia looked her over, but couldn't find any cool features besides the yellow slitted eyes. She wasn't very impressed.

Yugito gave a cheshire grin, and stood up from her stool. Hers wasn't quite as flashy as Naruto's but it was just as useful. She focused on her abilities and started to shrink.

A moment later, and a small black housecat jumped up to the bar, startling Makino. She gave Lufia one last smile before strolling over to Naruto. She layed down on the bar in front of him and turned to Makino, "Do you have any milk?"

"Uh-" The Bartender was at a loss for words. The only strange things she had ever seen was Lufia's Rubber-powers and even then she rarely saw it. But to be spoken to be a talking cat? It was hard to wrap her head around.

She decided to just treat it like any other customer, and not think about it too hard. "Of course! I'll go get you some. Do you want it in a bowl?" Makino asked.

The cat smiled with amusement, "Yes, please."

"That's awesome!" Lufia said with a laugh as Yugito started to lap at her bowl of milk.

Naruto chuckled and ran his fingers through Yugito's fur, eliciting a purr from the Cat-Woman. "We are both Zoan Types. That means we can turn into the animals our fruits are modeled after. We have a few forms so it is pretty good for fighting."

"Really?" She didn't really understand how that could be useful. It was nowhere near as strong as her rubber powers.

"Really." He confirmed, "Even in our normal forms we are pretty strong, and the Fruits complement our natural strengths."

Lufia stared at him in contemplation for a moment.

She nodded to herself and made her decision, "Alright! You two should join my crew!" She offered with the biggest smile Naruto has ever seen.

"No thanks." He shot her down mercilessly.

Her face fell and she pouted at him, "Why not?"

He gave her a fox-like smirk, "Because... I'm going to be King of the Pirates."

"No way!" She said immediately, "I'm going to be Queen of the Pirates!"

They stared at each other for a moment, before silently agreeing to the same thing.

"Guess there is only one thing to do then," Naruto said as he got to his feet.

Lufia stood up and smacked her fist into her palm. "Let's fight for it!" Even if she was a bit dense, she always knew when someone was ready to fight.

She thanked Makino profusely for the food, and headed for the door, "Let's go! I know a good spot we can settle this at."

Yugito hopped on Naruto's shoulder, and they followed after the young girl.

* * *

"Are you really going to fight her?" Yugito purred in his ear. She had wrapped herself firmly around his neck, happy to simply ride along rather than transform back and walk.

"Sure. It could be fun." They were following behind the black haired girl, as she marched her way through a small forest near the town.

"It just seems unlike you to start a fight with some random girl," Yugito commented.

"Nah. You know I love to fight, and this isn't some random girl. This is Ace's baby sister. You heard him brag about how his sister was going to be the strongest woman on the ocean. I'm interested to see if she has Ace's fighting talent."

Both Yugito and Naruto had heard Ace tell his crew the many stories about his 'cute baby sister'. Most of them were positive, saying she had a punch as strong as a pistol, and a will to never give up. Something that Naruto had truly respected. He was giddy to see it for himself.

Yugito understood that. It was just odd to see him instigate a fight like that. He did love to fight, but it was usually the other person who started it. It wasn't really Naruto's style to swing first. It did happen occasionally, when the unlucky bastard was asking for it.

"Alright!" A satisfied voice brought them out of their thoughts.

Lufia was standing proudly in the middle of a large clearing. Based on the torn-up patches of grass and a few knocked over trees, it was safe to guess that this was one of her training spots.

She smiled and settled into a fighting stance. "Let's get started!"

Naruto agreed, letting Yugito hop off of his shoulder to watch the match from the side. She transformed back to her human form to watch the match with her own eyes.

Naruto stood slightly near the edge of the clearing, and they started the match.

Lufia happily took the first move, throwing her arm back she let it stretch out behind her, "Gum Gum..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. _'Straight into the Devil-Fruit powers? Well then, two can play at that game.' _His red eyes flashed, almost imperceptibly, as his Devil-Fruit powers activated.

Lufia smiled as her opponent didn't move, "...Pistol!" Her arm rubber-banded, and flew back across the clearing, using the momentum from the stretching, and augmenting it with her own strength, it lashed across the field, striking Naruto in the chest.

Or it should have... But instead, she watched with wide eyes as her hand passed _through_ Naruto, and continued flying, slamming into a tree behind him with enough force to knock it down.

"AHHH!" She screamed, horrified she had just punched through her opponent. She wound her arm back quickly, and stared at the gaping hole she had left in her opponent's chest. She didn't mean to kill him! She didn't think she hit him that hard!

A light chuckle caught her attention, and her eyes shot up to her opponents face. He was smiling.

Naruto just laughed it off, and pointed to her left.

She followed the finger, and saw a fist rapidly enclosing on her face.

With a resounding smack, Naruto's punch sent Lufia flying back across the clearing. She crashed into a tree with a groan.

Regaining her bearings she jumped back up to her feet and shook off the dirt. Looking up she saw two Naruto's both smiling cheekily at her. One still had the gaping hole in his chest.

"Huh?" Was all she could manage.

The uninjured Naruto snapped his fingers, and the first one vanished. Seeing her confusion, he gave her a brief explanation, "One of my Devil-Fruit abilities allows me to use Illusions. Like the one you just saw."

Lufia's eyes were full of stars once again, "That's so cool!"

"But, I am curious." Naruto spoke up, "How are you okay after that? I hit you pretty hard."

This time Lufia gave a superior smirk, "I'm a Rubber-Woman remember? Blunt attacks don't work on me. They just bounce right off." She tapped her scrawny arm as if to show off her strength.

Naruto's eyebrows shot up in surprise, that was certainly useful. "Huh... Interesting. Does that work with all blunt attacks?"

She stopped and scratched her head in thought, "I think so. I'm not completely resistant, if you hit me hard enough I'll feel it. But I haven't met anyone besides Gramps that can do that yet."

So he just needed to hit her harder? Good. It's nice to fight someone who can really take the abuse you put them through.

The small chat stopped and they both settled back into their stances.

Lufia struck again, unbothered by her attack not working the attempt before. "Gum Gum Pistol!"

She lashed out faster this time, hoping to get him before he activates his Fruit again.

Once again, her fist flew through the image of Naruto, and once again she saw another approach from her side.

Smirking to herself, she ducked under the first blow.

Naruto was surprised she dodged, as she moved faster than he was prepared for, but didn't have time to prepare another move. Lufia's arm, that had still been extended, came flying back at them. He had no time to move, as the back of the fist slammed into his chest, sending him flying back from the force of the reverse Gum Gum Pistol. Now it was Naruto's turn to crash into a tree.

Grumbling to himself as he got back onto his feet, he glared at the wicked smile of the girl in front of him. He really should've been prepared for that.

This time he went on the offensive, rushing forward, his eyes flashed, and five copies of himself approached Lufia from all sides.

She lashed out at the center copy, the one he had originated from, but her fist passed through harmlessly.

A strike to the back of the head told her he was behind her, and the force of the blow had her driven into the ground.

She got back to her feet quickly, intent on hitting him back for that one, but stopped as she looked around.

Surrounding her, and filling the clearing, were at two dozen of the same blonde haired man. They were all smirking at her, completely identical.

Lufia wasn't bothered in the least, and wound up another Pistol. "Gum Gum..."

The copies watched with amusement, curious what she was planning.

With a big smile, she threw her attack, "Pistol!" The fist flew quickly, singling out a copy of Naruto.

The 'copy' widened his eyes as the attack struck true, punching straight into his stomach. He dug in his heels, preventing himself from getting knocked off his feet, but still felt the power behind the attack.

_'Man that girl hits hard.'_

His copies vanished as the attack forced him to lose his concentration. He rubbed his stomach wincing at the power behind the blow.

He stared at his opponent with no small amount of surprise. He could even see Yugito's jaw on the ground.

"How did you know which was the real one?" He asked. He was proud of his technique, and would be incredibly disappointed if it had a flaw so glaring that a young girl could spot it in a single fight.

Lufia shrugged and settled back into her stance, "Instinct."

Naruto shot her a weird look. _'Seriously? She picked the right copy on pure instinct? Yugito can't even tell them apart, and she has enhanced senses!' _Shaking his head at the strange girl, he fell back into his own combat stance.

They rushed each other once more, Naruto forewent Illusions this time, deciding to settle it with hand-to-hand combat.

They exchanged blows at a fast pace, no fancy attacks or complicated maneuvers. Just a simple fist fight.

They say that two experienced fighters can learn a lot about each other through an exchange of blows. It was something that Naruto had learned through the time he had spent with his 'Family'. And in this moment, he could say he was slowly starting to understand Lufia.

She was strong, shockingly so. Her small arms were skinny and thin, likely caused by her rubber powers, but underneath lay defined muscle that showed their strength through her powerful blows.

She was strong, and not just physically. She definitely had the willpower that Ace loved to brag about. Every time he knocked her down, she just got back up with a determined gleam in her eye. And soon enough after, he'd be the one on the ground.

She was experienced, Ace had told him that much. He bragged that they fought every day for several years, and that both became good fighters. It was true, and it showed. She had no 'style' but that hardly mattered, instincts and experience made up for the lack of technique.

She gave as good as she got during the fight, and by the end of it they were both covered in dirt, sweat, and blood.

They were standing opposite each other, both trying to catch their breath as they happily glared at each other.

They were fairly matched. Naruto was faster, and more agile, but Lufia's Devil Fruit gave her more durability and potential for power.

Naruto frowned and wiped the blood slipping down his chin. She really punched hard.

Lufia rubbed at the red marks covering her arms. She had been unprepared to deal with that part.

They both glared at each other from across the clearing.

Then they smiled.

The smiles turned to chuckles, and before long it escalated to full laughter.

They were both happy. Happy to find a worthy opponent, and happy to enjoy the great fight they just had.

Lufia dropped her stance first, and smiled up at Naruto, "You're pretty strong Naruto."

He smiled back and tried to brush the dirt off his orange jacket. "You are too Lufia. Ace wasn't lying when he said you'd be good."

Her face lit up as she heard her brother had complimented her. She turned to Naruto with determination. She had already decided Naruto was going to be a part of her crew, but now, after that fight, she knew just which position he'd hold. She was going to be looking for one anyway, it was just luck that he had found her instead.

"Naruto!" She called out. "I'm still going to be Queen of the Pirates!" She shouted, letting her determination show.

But then she smiled, "But you can be my King!"

Naruto was caught off guard by the declaration, and looked at her with bemusement. "Your King?" He asked.

She nodded, "You can't be a Queen without a King right? So you'll be my King!" It was simple. Makino had explained it to her one day. Queens always had a King by their side, so if she wanted to be Queen, she had to find a King first. Naruto was perfect! He could match her strength, and had a super-cool Devil-Fruit. It made perfect sense to her.

Naruto could only stare back with bafflement, _'Does she even know what she's saying?'_ While the Pirate King/Queen was a title, calling them like that definitely suggested something more. He had a strong feeling she wasn't aware of what she was implying.

He wasn't exactly sure how to handle this situation. He had little experience with girls, besides the time he spent with Yugito, and he had a feeling Lufia was going to be much different from the rest.

So he did the only thing he could think of. He looked to Yugito for help. He saw her on the edge of the clearing where she had settled down to watch the fight. She seemed just as surprised as he from the bold proclamation. He sent her his best pleading expression, and she caught his eyes for a moment. She shrugged carelessly, and sent him a 'It's your decision' look.

He sighed internally._ 'Great. Thanks, Yugito.'_

He glanced back at the cause of his plight, and instantly regretted it. She had big pleading eyes and her lower lip was starting to tremble.

Shit.

He considered his options. On one hand, he could just say no. That would probably end poorly for him, either with the girl actually crying, or simply not giving up. Her determination was already made clear, and if Ace's stories were anything to go by, Lufia was not so easily dissuaded. Ace had told him about how Lufia had stubbornly followed him around, even after Ace had spit at her and pushed her off a cliff. If Lufia turned that determination on him, he would be dealing with her for quite a while.

On the other hand, he _was_ planning on gathering his own crew. It would be rather hard to become King without any crew members after all. Lufia was pretty much everything he would want in a crew member, strong, earnest, and knew how to enjoy life. Despite being a bit naive, she was perfect.

_"Naruto!"_ The voice of Ace echoed through his mind. _"When you meet Lufia, make sure she's okay for me, alright? She attracts trouble just as easily as you do, so I'd really appreciate it if she had another person looking out for her."_ The memory flashed through his head, and made the decision for him.

_'I don't think this is exactly what Ace had in mind.' _He sighed to himself.

He looked back up at his new partner with matching determination. He gave her a firm nod and held out his hand.

Lufia smiled widely, "Yes!" She jumped up in the air and let out a small whoop. She snatched his hand in her own solid grip, and they shook on it.

He smiled as she showed her excitement, it vanished the lingering doubt he had. "So that makes us what? Co-Captains?"

She nodded, "I guess... Oh! But since we have two Captains we need a crew twice as big!" She had big eyes and a childish smile as she pictured herself and Naruto standing together in front of a large group of Pirates. On a massive ship, of course.

Naruto could only shake his head at her logic, he was slowly starting to figure out how her mind worked. "So how many crewmembers were you planning to have?"

"Ten!" She replied immediately, "At least ten." She added after a moment's thought. She wasn't opposed to a large crew, but they had to be special.

Naruto chuckled at her plan. 'Twice as big' was still just twenty if she had only wanted ten in the first place. That was tiny in comparison to the many other pirate crews.

But, he was fine with that. "You know, I'm quite partial to nine, myself." He said, letting his tails sway behind him in agreement.

Lufia smiled, and put a hand on her hat, "Nine, huh?" She giggled, "Shishishi~ Sounds perfect!" She looked up in the air and stared at the sky for a moment.

Her eyes filled with panic, "Wha-?! It's noon already! I was supposed to leave the island hours ago!" she complained loudly.

"Does it really matter?" Yugito asked, making her way over to them.

Lufia frowned, "Of course it does! I was supposed to start my adventure at the same time Ace did. Now I'm hours behind!"

The two Zoan-types shared a look.

Yugito spoke up, "I think we have something that can make up for that lost time."

Lufia tilted her head in curiosity.

* * *

"This... is..." Lufia couldn't believe her eyes. It was, in a word, "Awesome!"

Naruto chuckled as he stepped into the boat. He couldn't judge her excitement this time, he had the same reaction. It really was awesome.

Lufia had stars in her eyes as she drooled over the look of his vessel.

The 'ship' if you could call it that, was more of a boat than anything else. It was long and narrow in design, made out of a shiny black material instead of the usual wood. In the center of the boat, length-wise, was an open compartment. It had four wide, two-person, seats, set in two rows but separated by the open walkway in the middle. An additional 'Helmsman' seat sat just in front of the passenger seats, designed to give the Helmsman a clear view of the ocean.

It was an odd design, with a large portion of the front of the ship being completely covered. The back had a large circular thruster built in.

The entire boat was black, with the exception of silver trimmings along the edges. The sides each had a large head of a white wolf painted on, facing the front of the ship with its fangs bared. Due to the design, and speed it travels, it was aptly named, 'Hunter'.

Naruto smiled proudly and helped the two ladies off of the dock, "Welcome aboard Hunter! She's the fastest boat you'll ever see! Hunter's design was based off of Ace's own boat, Striker."

Lufia's eyes met Naruto's with surprise, she looked down and saw the ship in an entirely new light. "So it's like Ace's?" She smiled with happiness, glad to have that small connection to her brother.

Lufia was a kid in a candy shop aboard the strange ship, darting her head in every direction as she tried to take it all in at once.

"How does it sail?" Lufia asked. While she was still happily inspecting every inch of the unique boat, she noticed it was missing the one thing that made a ship move. It didn't feel like a Pirate Ship if it didn't have a sail!

Naruto plopped down on one of the seats in the front row. Closest to the Helm. The seats were cushioned, and colored dark grey.

He ushered Lufia to sit next to him, "You'll see."

Yugito took her appointed role easy enough and settled down in the Helm. Yugito was usually in charge of steering them, since Naruto's navigation skills were limited at best. He could use a compass, but that was about as far as it got.

She, on the other hand, had a bit more experience with it. She couldn't predict the weather or anything crazy, but she could get them from island to island with little trouble. Especially in someplace calm, like the East Blue.

After doing her routine check on the ship's controls, she placed her hands into two small holes located on the console. They were tubes, with two levers inside. She grabbed them and focused her Devil-Fruit powers.

The real reason Hunter was based off of the Striker, was Ace's ingenious method of using his Fire-based Devil-Fruit powers to generate thrust for his small craft. Taking the concept a step further, Naruto incorporated it into his own ship, Hunter.

Suddenly, the tubes flared with bright blue light as Yugito's hands were encased in azure fire. The fire traveled quickly through the tubes, fueling the thruster in the back.

Yugito's Devil Fruit was more than just a simple Zoan-type. It was a Mythical Devil Fruit, just like Naruto's. Granting her the abilities of the mythical Two-tailed Cat, better known as the Nekomata. One of the abilities, is the blue-fire she uses to fuel their ship. She prefers to call it Soul-Fire, considering its properties. It was one of the more useful abilities of her Fruit, and one she had no problem using.

With a small jerk, the ship fired up its thruster, and started moving at a slow pace. They pushed off the dock, and started out to sea.

"Ohhhh!" Lufia was sitting cross-legged on the seat next to Naruto, leaning on the edge of the ship as she looked toward the back of the ship. She could see water being kicked up behind them slightly, and some blue light coming from the large metal tube on the back of the ship.

She spun back around on her seat and settled down next to Naruto, watching Yugito as she steered them away from the port. "So it runs on fire-power?"

"Yep! And with Yugito's Devil-Fruit powers, we can get anywhere we want, without relying on the wind." Naruto said.

Lufia looked rather amazed, that was pretty cool... But it took a bit of the fun out of it, didn't it? Wasn't the entire point of _sailing_ to... y'know... use a sail?

Naruto caught on to her thoughts easily enough, but didn't really worry about it. Hunter wasn't designed to be used for sailing expeditions. It was just to hop from island to island. "We'll need a real ship, of course." He said, "Obviously, Hunter offers no place to sleep and has little place to store food. So we'll need a proper Pirate Ship if we want to gather a crew."

It was one of the reasons Hunter was designed to be fast. Naruto and Yugito had sailed around a considerable amount using her, but never had to sleep on the ship. They simply reached their destination before nightfall. They never traveled far, and instead stuck to short routes and island hopping. If they wanted to go someplace like the Grand Line, they'd need a real ship.

Lufia rapidly nodded her head in agreement, excited all over again about getting a large ship of her own.

Naruto looked at his new Co-Captain with amusement. She was lost in her own fantasies again. She was definitely going to make the trip interesting, if nothing else.

Suddenly, his hair stood on end and a shiver went down his spine. He looked out to the sea, it was calm and peaceful. But something was weird.

It was quiet.

"Something is wrong..." He said without thinking, catching the other two passengers attention.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt odd to him.

The feeling surged, and his instincts were screaming at him. Something was strange.

The feeling rose higher, and he finally understood. Something was coming.

"Yugito! Stop!" He shouted.

She didn't hesitate. She pulled back on her sticks the moment she heard her Captain's voice. An instant later, and the ship slid to a halt. If they had been going any faster, it might have been harder, but they had been moving slowly.

Yugito looked back at her Captain, alarmed. She rarely heard him raise his voice, and if he did, things were serious. "What's wro-"

She never finished her sentence, as a loud roar shook their boat.

A massive Sea King lunged out of the water several dozen meters in front of them. Its large jaws were spread wide open. It snapped closed harshly, attempting to swallow its prey.

Only to miss its target.

Its teeth sank into nothing but air as the ship had made its sudden stop just short of the Sea King's mouth.

The newly-formed Pirate crew were frozen in momentary shock as they realized they were very close to becoming the beast's lunch. If they had continued to sail, they would've slid straight into the Sea King's mouth.

"The Lord of the Coast!" Lufia shouted as she jumped to her feet.

"You recognize it?" Naruto asked, incredulous.

"Yeah." Lufia growled, "That's the bastard that took Shanks' arm!"

The Sea King realized it had missed its prey and caught sight of them. It reared its head back and let out another fearsome roar. It was monstrous in size, with teeth long and wide as a human head. It was ugly too. A dark, oily brown, with red bloodshot eyes. A singular fin ran along the top and bottom of its body, giving it the appearance of a massive eel.

Lufia's blood boiled at the very sight of the beast. Not only had it almost killed her, and taken Shanks' arm, but it had tormented the town for years afterward.

With eyes glaring murder at the beast, she crouched low and pushed off the boat with as much strength her legs could provide her. The Hunter sank a deeper into the water slightly as the force launched her into the air.

She flew upward, gaining height until she was nearly eye-level with the monster. Reeling her fist back she performed her signature move. "GUM GUM..."

It was a move that she had practiced for ten long years, and she had gotten it down to perfection. It was fitting, in a way, to use her most practiced move against the monster that had forced her to take her training seriously.

Her arm reached its maximum stretch length, and she poured every ounce of strength into the rebound, "PISTOL!" She shouted as the fist cut across the air with the speed of a bullet, smashing into the side of the monster's head.

The force sent it reeling back, an impressive display considering the size of the Sea King. The monster let out a wail of pain as its body fell to the side, crashing into the surface of the water and floating there. Unmoving.

Lufia landed back onto the ship, and pulled her hat back down on her head.

The beast stirred once more, and it slowly pulled itself back up. It turned to the group, now sporting a massive bruise on the side of its face.

Lufia put all of her anger into the best glare she could manage, "Get lost."

The beast froze, remembering the last human that had said those words. Its danger instincts took over, and it let out a final small wail as it turned around and dove back below the surface.

The two Zoan-types sighed with relief as the Sea King left, and Lufia slumped into her seat beside Naruto.

"She's stronger than I thought." He heard Yugito whisper.

He didn't acknowledge it. He was too occupied with his own thoughts.

_'What... was that?' _He had no idea what that feeling was. It was like he instinctively knew that something terrible was about to happen. He had grown nervous for a moment, and he could've sworn he had felt the hair on his tails stiffen.

But what happened? Was it just instinct, like Lufia had used to see through his Illusion? Or was it a piece of his Devil Fruit? He snapped himself out of his thoughts with a sigh. He'd just have to look into it more. But right now...

He looked to the young woman beside him, who was being awfully quiet. She was sitting in silence, with a contemplative look on her face, as if coming to terms with what had just occurred.

It didn't suit her, he decided, to have that grim look on her face.

"You look better with a smile on your face, y'know." He nudged her in the side with his elbow.

Surprisingly, she didn't respond. She stayed focused on her own thoughts, staring down at the straw hat she had placed in her lap.

She did pull herself out of her thoughts, when she felt something warm and fuzzy surround her. She looked up to the side, into the concerned eyes of her new partner.

He had wrapped all nine of his tails around her side, and used them to pull her against him. "Are you okay?" He asked gently. He hadn't realized the attack had bothered her that much, but she looked pretty disturbed about it.

She had mentioned 'Shanks', and the name rung a bell, but he couldn't quite place it. He wanted to ask, wanted to know what had bothered his new friend so greatly, but it wasn't the appropriate time.

He'd give it some time first.

"Yeah," Lufia said as she placed her hat back on her head.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick one-armed hug. "You shouldn't make such a scary face Lufia, I can't have my partner being sad." He was inwardly shocked at how easy the words came to him, and how right they felt. He wasn't sure why, but his gut was telling him that she was definitely fit to be his partner.

She perked up a bit as she heard him openly acknowledge their partnership for the first time. She gave him her best smile, but at the moment, it still came out a bit half-hearted.

He internally frowned, but thought of a way to cheer her up.

He glanced at Yugito, and gave her a quick nod. His helmswoman understood, and started back up the thruster, getting the ship moving back at its slow pace.

"You might want to hold on to something Lufia..." Naruto warned.

"Huh?" She tilted her head in innocent confusion.

"Punch it, Yugito."

The Cat-Woman smirked as she fired her hands up with the full power of her Devil Fruit, and pushed forward on her controls.

The ship's thruster let out a loud pop and suddenly roared to life, flaring with a large stream of blue flames. The fire wasn't just for show and the Hunter quickly picked up speed, cutting through the waves at a rate that made sailboats look like snails.

Lufia, despite herself, couldn't contain her excitement. She threw her hands up in the air, her momentary depression long forgotten.

"WOOOO! Shishishi~"

She let out a loud cheer and laughed happily as they skipped across the water.

Her straw hat wasn't prepared for the wind, and nearly lifted itself off of her head. But Naruto had been prepared, and pushed it back down on the mess of black hair, surprisingly content to hold it there while his partner enjoyed the ride.

* * *

They sailed out for some time, giving their newest companion quite a rush with Hunter's speed.

After a while, Yugito had slowed it down. They were still moving quickly, about the speed of a caravel, but nowhere near their max speed.

It was exhausting to fire up the engine like that for long periods of time. For Yugito, it was like comparing a walk to a full-on sprint.

While she could make them go a lot faster, it would also wear her down just as quickly. So she tended to keep the pace moderate, as it usually let her last much longer. Slow and steady does win the race, in this case.

Lufia had settled back in her standard cross-legged pose, and was amusing herself with a pair of Naruto's tails. They were extremely soft, so she couldn't help herself.

Yugito was diligently keeping the group on course, heading to the closest island in the area, Lufia hadn't given any specific direction besides "Forward!" so she decided to head to the closest town, hoping to bump into potential crew members.

Naruto was leaning back in his seat, eyes closed in pleasure from the mixture of the sea breeze and Lufia's light strokes along his tails. His arms lay lazily on the back of their seat, and the side of the boat.

His ears twitched atop his head as he heard a very faint sound in the distance. He tilted his head and focused.

There it was again. It sounded like... Cannon fire?

His eyes snapped open. He called out to his Helmswoman, "Yugito."

"I heard it." She said, already putting more juice into the engines. She had spent long enough with Naruto to know what he wanted. When there was trouble, Naruto either sought it out in curiosity, or it all came crashing down around them without warning.

The former was usually cleaner, so she headed toward the sounds of action. It was better for everyone if they made the first move.

Hunter dashed across the waves with a vengeance, on the trail of whatever had caught its attention.

It didn't take long for them to find their mark, a luxury cruise liner that was being attacked by a Pirate Ship.

The Pirate Ship itself, was a blinding eyesore compared to the vast blue of the surroundings.

It was pink.

Completely pink.

With painted wood on everything from the deck to the masts. Its figurehead was a rather weak attempt at a swan, with hearts covering its eyes.

The sails, each had the same large pink heart painted in the center. Atop the crow's nest, lay the Jolly Roger. One that Naruto actually recognized... Unfortunately.

He visibly deflated into his seat.

_'Dammit... I was hoping to see something exciting.'_ He pouted to himself as Yugito drew them in close. It was the Alvida Pirates. One of the weakest, if not _the_ weakest, pirate crews in the East Blue.

And considering the East Blue was widely regarded as the 'Weakest Sea', these guys were the bottom of the barrel when it came to criminals.

Yugito pulled the Hunter between the ships, still unnoticed by the two groups due to Hunter's small build.

The Pirates had just started boarding, if the shouts and shadows passing overhead were anything to go by.

He turned to Lufia, ready to make a plan of action.

"Gum Gum... Rocket!"

Naruto watched, slightly amused, as his Co-Captain shot herself up to the deck of the cruise liner, somehow going unnoticed by the Pirates.

_'Eh...'_ He shrugged to himself carelessly, _'She'll be fine.' _

He turned to Yugito instead, "Do you want to go aboard?"

His Helmswoman shook her head and stretched, arching her back in a cat-like fashion. She curled up in her seat and relaxed, resting from the use of her Devil-Fruit.

Naruto smiled and shook his head. Looking back up at the two ships, he shrugged and followed Lufia aboard the cruise ship.

He hopped up and landed on the railing, right beside his partner.

This first thing he noticed, was the surprisingly calm atmosphere. The group of civilians had already been grouped up in a ballroom of sorts when the pirates boarded. So the pirates were able to keep them contained with little to no bloodshed.

How boring.

He wasn't itching to see a bloodbath, but if there was no fight, how was he supposed to join in?

A flash of orange caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

A young girl, was sneaking aboard the Pirate Ship, hugging the wall and clearing thinking herself to be stealthy.

Not that it lasted, as a door opened and she was immediately busted. Luckily for her, they were a low bounty crew for a reason, and the nameless grunt went down in a single blow to the groin.

_'Ouch...' _Naruto was almost sympathetic for the poor bastard. Almost.

The girl slipped passed the grunt, and into the cabin. Leaving the man twitching in pain on the ground.

Well, he had found something interesting after all.

"Lufia, I'm going to go check out the other ship. I'll be back in a minute, okay?" He called out to his newest friend as he spun around on the railing.

Lufia waved him off, and stepped down to the deck.

"Later!" Naruto gave a small wave back as he leaped aboard the Pirate Ship.

Lufia glanced at the spot where her partner had vanished, she was slightly curious about what he was doing, but didn't think about it too hard.

She turned her attention back to the group of three pirates she had been watching, they seemed to be looking for alcohol.

She stepped forward on the deck, she was going to try and find someone fun to fight...

Her stomach growled.

...

...Right after she found some food.

* * *

Nami was not having a good day.

"Well, look at what we have here boys!" The second fattest pirate aboard the Miss Love Duck said to his fellow grunts.

"Seems like we've got ourselves a stowaway." A sniveling voice agreed, coming from the shortest of the bunch.

"What do we do with her?" A third voice asked.

"Tie her up for Alvida!" Another suggested.

The group broke into squabbling, put kept their swords pointed at the young girl they had found inside their cargo hold.

Nami was not having a good day.

It had started out simple enough, she had managed to bribe her way onto a rich-looking luxury cruise liner. Hoping that the endeavor would earn her more than she had spent. And things had been looking up, for a while. A high-class ball-room filled with wine and expensive food, should've been easy pickings for a young lady with sticky fingers.

It should have been.

But nothing went according to her plan. The people wore expensive clothing, sure. But had no money on their person, nothing she could slip away from them at least. They wore rich clothes and expensive jewelry, but their rooms were under heavy locks. Something that would take her too long to pick without drawing any attention.

And worst of all... The men! She knew she had been asking for it with a low-cut dress, which she admits, she looked gorgeous in, but really?! She was almost certain she had been offered by every single man in that damn room! And most of them had dates! It wouldn't have been so bad if they had something easy to swipe, but none of them carried any money.

So, after a couple hours of wasted effort, she was ready to cut her losses. Maybe try and find some sort of cargo-hold to plunder, or maybe just say 'To hell with subtlety' and raid the Captain's Quarters.

And then it all went to hell.

As if fate was openly mocking her, the sound of cannon fire resounded, and the entire ship lurched with the waves caused by the Pirate Ship's warning shots.

The weak-willed men aboard surrendered immediately, and the minimal security offered by the ship was cut down in an instant.

She had slipped away by the skin of her teeth. Luckily.

Using her ever-present greed as inspiration, she tried to make the best out of a terrible situation, and stole aboard the Pirate's Ship.

The plan was simple, sneak aboard while the Pirates were raiding, strip the ship for all its worth, and leave before they notice anything amiss. Then, sail away on a raft piled with gold, happy as can be. After that, maybe even a bit of maniacal laughter as she imagined the faces of the Pirates when they finally realize they had been robbed. It was a simple plan, but one that should work flawlessly.

It should have worked.

But... Nami was having a bad day.

There were a few holes in her plan, looking back. Things she had never really considered, like how there could possibly be a group of pirates in charge of defending the ship while the others were raiding. Or how the treasure hold was likely filled with _gold, _and that she hadn't considered how she was actually going to move the piles by herself. Or maybe even the fact that the other ship had already surrendered, and that the Pirate Ship had a high amount of traffic as the raiding group moved treasure to the deck, from the cruise ship.

All very important factors of the plan she hadn't considered. And all factors that led to her current situation. Stuck inside the treasure hold, with a small bag of gold behind her, and a group of very angry Pirates brandishing swords in her direction.

For the first time since she left her village, Nami felt truly scared.

Admittedly, she had been treating all pirates as a joke. Compared to the one she was used to, how could they not be? When compared to such inhuman strength, the normal 'Pirates' were small fry. So she stole from them, carelessly. And she got sloppy.

One mistake was all it took, and here she was, getting a deadly glare from a group of pirates she had been caught stealing from.

She wasn't sure which fate would be worse for her, if they killed her... or if they didn't.

She considered reaching for her weapon, despite knowing it was hopeless.

They were in tight-quarters, she had no room to wield her staff. And she was outnumbered. Heavily.

"-nd I say we just kill her! Maybe Alvida will give us some booze as a reward for catching the thief."

Her attention snapped back to the pirates at the mention of death.

The mention of booze caught the other pirates' attention, and they all quieted down in agreement. In a silent decision, they all focused back on the young girl.

Their blades pointed to her chest, and they slowly advanced, closing in on her.

Until an unfamiliar voice cut them off.

"Now, now..."

The eyes of the entire group snapped to the newcomer.

* * *

Naruto had followed his orange haired infiltrator down to the Pirate's treasure hold, predictably.

Unpredictably, however, were the other occupants of the room. A group of Pirates, a dozen or so, had the young thief backed into a corner. Literally.

She was frozen, trapped with a 'deer in the headlights' look on her face as she desperately tried to think of a way out of the situation.

But Naruto had seen something that made his blood boil.

Acceptance.

She had given up, in the moment, and was ready to meet her end.

No girl her age should look like that, no matter the situation.

He heard the word 'kill' and he knew he had to step in, before the bastards got any closer to his little 'interest'. He could see her preparing to reach for something, but he had a feeling that any weapon she drew, unless it happened to be a pistol with unlimited ammunition, was likely going to end up in her death.

He didn't know her, but that didn't mean he was going to watch a young woman die. Especially not one with _orange_ hair. How often did he find someone with orange hair? Especially an attractive young woman with orange hair. He couldn't help himself!

"Now, now..."

He drew the attention of the room. Good. Hopefully, that'll keep them off the girl for a moment.

He noticed the lack of disbelieving looks or cries of 'Monster!', slightly surprised, he took another look at himself.

Ah! Right. He had turned into his 'Human Form', hiding his tails and ears. As amusing it would be to see the shocked faces of everyone he ran into, it was rather annoying in public, so he hid his animal features.

Along with his ears and tails, his whisker marks faded back into his skin, and his blood red eyes now shone with deep cerulean.

His eyes met the female thief's for a moment, and he could swear she was telling him to leave. Not that he would, but it was a cute gesture.

He leaned against the door with nonchalance, "...That's no way to speak to a lady."

The bastard pirates glared at him, and a few turned their blades to him instead.

"Who the hell are you?!" A foolish bastard said, swinging his sword in Naruto's direction in an attempt to look threatening.

He stared blankly at the sword, "Careful... Swinging a sword at someone... They might just swing back."

The pirate grinned, showing off the few teeth he had remaining, "And what are you going to do about it?"

He stepped forward, and grabbed the sword with his bare hand, ignoring the gasp from the girl.

The pirate smirked and pulled, intent on slicing his hand open with the blade, but found the sword firmly rooted in place. The pirate's expression slowly turned to fear as he tried to retrieve his weapon, to no avail. He looked up, into the eyes of the blonde.

Big mistake.

The shining cerulean flashed a bloody crimson for a single instant, but that was all it took.

The pirate's eyes widened, his mind clouded over, his vision blurred, and then his world spun.

A moment later, he was on the ground.

_'Tsk. I hate using that power,'_ Naruto grumbled to himself, _'Gives me a nasty headache.' _But it did its job, and the group now had their attention focused entirely on him. The girl was completely forgotten.

He flipped the sword over in his hand and grabbed the hilt. The blade had sunk slightly into his palm from where he had grabbed it, but the wound was already closing. Devil-Fruit powers were certainly useful.

"W-W-W-What d-did you do to h-him?!" The short bastard said in a voice that was already starting to grate on his ears.

Naruto snorted.

As, if.

"I didn't do a damn thing. Must've passed out on his own." Like he would tell his abilities to some no-name rabble, smack dab in the middle of the Weakest Sea.

"Bullshit! You did something!" The lanky bastard accused.

Naruto shrugged carelessly, "I think you have bigger concerns."

He gave the sword a few test swings. He was no swordsman, and likely never would be, but he really didn't want to go full nine-tails against some random grunts. That would just be embarrassing!

He could use his fists, but he didn't want to scar the poor girl any more than she already was. He assumed that brutally beating the pirates to a bloody mess with his bare hands probably wouldn't help.

A sword would do. He would just have to be a bit clean about it. Hopefully, no body parts will go flying.

"Oh?" A haughty bastard started with a superior smirk, "And what would that be? We outnumber you ten to one."

It was thirteen to one, but who was counting? Naruto lazily met the pirate's eyes, and a feral grin stretched across his features, "I have a weapon."

"And what does that mat-Ack!" The arrogant bastard never finished his sentence before a sword's blade slid smoothly across his Adam's apple.

A light shove, and he joined his fellow bastard on the floor.

The loud thud seemed to be a trigger that sent the other pirates into motion.

_'Finally. Who knew it took two bastards hitting the floor before the "herd" recognized a threat?'_ He sighed to himself. He would never understand the minds of such animals.

The haughty bastard moved in to avenge his dead comrade, showing a surprising sense of pack-loyalty, despite how minimal the emotion was. _'Maybe they were intelligent creatures after all?' _

A quick thrust left his sword buried deep into the chest of the bastard, and the body count hit three.

_'Nah.'_ He revoked his earlier claim as he pulled the sword out of the dead bastard. _'Impossible.'_

Feeling brave, bastards four, five, and six, decided that strength in numbers was the key to survival.

Three quick swipes of his sword and Naruto proved that Darwinism does, in fact, apply to the bastards. Good to know.

The remaining eight bastards were suddenly looking a bit unsure of themselves.

That was no good! God forbid the bastards _learn_.

Deciding that it was just his turn, and they were waiting for him to make a move, he lunged at the short bastard with the grating voice. Doing his best to remove that voice from this world. The sword came in quite handily for that.

The short bastard hit the floor, a large chunk of his throat missing.

It was 7/7 now. It was an even match so far, but it was still any bastard's game.

The fat bastard barreled forward, trusting its natural blubber to protect it!

And it did protect the bastard... From the fall he took _after_ Naruto had opened his throat just like the other bastards.

The ugly bastard teamed up with four of the other remaining bastards, and charged him with a mighty roar! Or maybe that was a mating call? He _really_ hoped not.

Stomach, Lungs, Heart, Spine. The four bastard lackeys went down quickly. Joining the growing pile on the floor.

The ugly bastard let out a wail as his 'herd' was culled, "D-Demo-!"

"Shut up." Naruto slashed at his throat. He got enough of that shit when he had his tails out, but now he wasn't even using them!

The ugly bastard kissed the floorboards.

...And then there was one.

"H-Hiiiieee!" The cowardly bastard was backing away into a wall, holding a sword with shaking hands. "S-S-Stay a-a-a-away!"

Naruto smiled.

The final bastard dropped his sword in an instant, and bolted for the door with a speed that almost surprised him.

_'Huh... The cowardly bastard is the sole survivor,'_ He mused, _'That's almost poetic.' _

He didn't bother to chase, the bastard was no threat.

He looked down at his weapon of choice, frowning at the large amount of blood soaking it. With a careless shrug, he tossed it to the side, ignoring the sickening squelch it made as it landed among the bastards.

He turned to the final occupant of the room, and looked into the eyes of his subject of interest.

She was staring back with a mixture of horror and awe. On one hand, he had saved her life. On the other, he had ruthlessly cut down an entire group of pirates in front of her. Quite easily.

He watched her carefully as she sorted through her emotions, her face turning pale as she looked to be sick. She refused to meet his eyes, and didn't say anything, waiting for him to make the first move. A hand strayed down to her hip, preparing to reach for a weapon he assumed she had stored somewhere.

He raised his hand slowly, ignoring the stiffening of her body as she prepared to reach for her weapon. His hand went up to his shoulder, and he raised to fingers in a lazy wave, "Yo!" He said, ignoring the corpses behind him.

She stared at him with shock. Disbelieving that he would offer such a casual greeting after that... massacre. She shivered with fear, but her pride beat it down long enough for her to open her mouth.

"You... killed them..." She said, a bit more accusatory than she had intended.

He didn't seem to notice, and nodded shamelessly, "Just as they would've surely killed you."

She couldn't argue with that. They were pirates, and the worst sort from what little interaction she had with them. Death was the most pleasant of the things they had argued about, and she held no pity for the men on the floor. But that hardly made it easier to watch them get butchered in front of her.

The blood alone made her sick, and it took all of her willpower to keep her lunch down.

The tension finally escaped her after speaking, and she fell backward like a marionette with its strings cut. Her bag of gold caught her fall, and she sat there, still in shock over her brush with death.

Naruto let her have a moment to collect herself, and turned to the large pile of gold and jewels, might as well help himself, right?

Producing a large sack from who-knows-where, he started quickly filling it with golden coins and any fancy jewels that caught his eye.

Nami watched him work, and for the first time in a long time, she had no desire to steal any more for herself.

It was that stupid pile of gold that got her into this mess in the first place.

She took another look at the blonde. He was cute, that was certainly true, and Nami felt no shame admitting she found herself attracted to him. He was tall for his age, just past her own height. He had platinum blonde hair that had an almost ethereal look to it, with a slightly silver tinge. His bright blue eyes had captured her attention, and she must've been seeing things because she had thought for a moment, that they had turned red during his battle.

Her mind was playing tricks on her. Surely.

He was strong too, cutting down the group of pirates with practiced ease. It made her wonder just who he was. Was he a Bounty Hunter? It would explain the lack of sympathy for pirates, and the experience he had with fighting.

He wore no blue or white, and considering he was currently looting the pirate ship, it was safe to rule out the Marines.

She briefly considered him being a pirate, but ruled that out easily enough. She was still alive. So there was no way he was a pirate.

Another question crossed her mind...

"How did you find me?" She asked quietly.

He didn't look up from his bag, it was about half full and he was still working on it.

"Honestly?" He asked.

She nodded, but noticed he wasn't looking at her. "Yes."

"Your hair."

"Eh...?" She looked at him with confusion clear on her face, "...My... Hair?"

He paused to look up at her with a serious expression, and gave her a firm nod. "Orange is my favorite color, if you couldn't tell," He gestured down to his primarily orange outfit. "So, when a beautiful girl, with _beautiful hair,_ is nearby, it caught my eye pretty quickly, y'know." He said genuinely.

"O-Oh..." She felt a bit of heat returning to her cheeks, _'Who the hell compliments someone in a situation like this?!' _

"So what are you doing in a place like this, anyway?" Naruto asked as he sorted through his loot. The coins weren't great quality, but about as much as he could expect from one of the weakest crews in the world.

The girl hesitated to answer, but caved when he turned his eyes to hers. "I'm... a Pirate Thief."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Pirate Thief?"

She looked more like a Cat-Burglar to him. Dressed in a full blue and black outfit, complete with a bandanna on her head. The only thing she was missing was a black mask and a bag slung over her shoulder, as she tiptoed through the shadows.

He inwardly snickered as he thought about giving a copy of the outfit to Yugito. He was sure she'd be amused.

She nodded, "I only steal from pirates. Although... it usually works better than this." She gave a self-deprecating smile.

"What about you?" She asked as she watched him tie up his bag, "Are you a Bounty Hunter?"

"A Bounty Hunter? Nah... I'm..." He paused and scratched his chin in thought. "I'm a Courier."

"A Courier?" That wasn't anything like she expected. Why was a simple courier so strong? And what was he doing aboard a Pirate Ship?

He nodded, "Yeah. I deliver packages, that kind of thing. But I don't think I'll be keeping my job after that last one."

She dropped her head down, "Sorry to hear that." Why was she apologizing?! She just met him.

"Huh?" He tilted his head in confusion. After repeating his words in his head he waved it off, "Oh! Don't be. It wasn't a bad thing. The job went well, too well. I was offered a new job by the end of it."

She nodded in understanding and glanced at the door.

They could both hear a commotion on the deck, and Nami was ready to get as far away from the ship as possible. She really didn't want to risk getting caught again.

She made her way to her feet on shaky legs. She struggled for a moment to lift her bag of gold, but eventually got it over her shoulder.

"Leaving?" The Courier asked her as she carefully walked to the door, doing her best not to look at the floor.

"Yeah. I guess this is goodbye. Mister Courier."

She heard a chuckle from behind her as she passed through the door. "Nah. I'm sure we will see each other again. Miss Pirate Thief."

* * *

"-I'm 'the most...' What?" A gruff almost-masculine voice reached his sensitive ears as he made his way back to the deck of the Miss Love Duck. On the deck, he noticed that some of the remaining crew were staring toward the other ship with an assortment of surprise, fear, and disbelief.

Curious, he glanced across to the cruise ship. His lips twitched with amusement.

Lufia was standing in the center of the deck, looking completely unbothered by the attention she was drawing to herself.

A small, chubby, trembling, pink-haired cabin boy, stood slightly behind her, staring at Alvida with shock. His mouth opened and closed as he struggled to form words.

The deck was littered with the remains of the Pirate crew, and Lufia had an uncaring expression as she waited for the boy to speak.

_'She seems to be having fun.' _

Across from them, had to be the ugliest woman he had ever seen. Known as 'Iron Mace' Alvida. She was a massive, obese woman with greasy black hair. She had a cluster of freckles covering her chubby face, that was currently twisted into a nasty snarl as she glared down at the two in front of her. A massive spiked mace was slung over her shoulder.

Her glare was completely disregarded by Lufia in favor of watching the pink-haired boy.

Naruto hopped across the gap between the ships, and landed on the railing of the cruise ship. He laid his bag at his feet and sat down on the railing, happy to watch everything unfold.

"Y-Y-You're the m-most..." The cabin boy stuttered. He looked up at Lufia, and a spark of resolve shown through his eyes. He turned to Alvida with every ounce of courage he could muster.

"THE MOST UGLY WHALE IN THE ENTIRE EAST BLUE!"

The entire area was shocked into silence by the proclamation.

Alvida's crew all had their jaws on the ground, with varying levels of nervousness as they prepared for their captain to go on a rampage.

Alvia herself was looking at him in shock, before her expression turned murderous. A thick vein throbbed on her forehead, and her face slowly turned red with anger. Her teeth were visibly grinding together, and she looked ready to explode.

The silence was broken by uproarious laughter, coming from Monkey D. Lufia. She threw her head back laughed openly and loud, with her hands on her hips.

Naruto couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. He would've let out a hearty laugh to match Lufia's if he didn't think it would draw attention to himself.

_'That kid...'_ He shook his head with disbelief. At a glance, it seemed that the brat had a death-wish, but looking closer, Naruto could tell the boy had no regrets with his outburst. Even if Alvida were to kill him right here and now, the brat would be satisfied.

Still, it showed some serious courage, something he didn't think he would find inside the small cabin boy. Especially not when the brat's legs were shaking like a leaf.

"What did you say!?" Alvida growled, her eyes were bloodshot and she tightened her grip on her mace.

The cabin boy felt emboldened. He had finally gotten it off his chest, and it felt good. He clenched his fists and gave a weak glare back at Alvida. "I... I'm going to join the navy!" he said, "And then, I'll capture pirates!"

"Do you even know what you're saying?! Coby?!" Alvida glared down at the boy.

"I do! And I have no regrets! I'm going to join the Marines..." He let out a breath and shouted, "AND THEN I'LL CAPTURE YOUR FAT ASS!"

"YOU STUPID BRAT!" Alvida couldn't contain her rage any longer and swung her large mace in a massive arc, intending to crush him.

The boy screamed with fear, and it looked as if his bravado had left him, but Naruto caught something that made him smile.

He didn't look away.

Even when facing certain death, his eyes remained wide open as he watched Alvida's mace come swinging down upon him.

"Well said!" Lufia praised after finally reigning in her laughter. She moved in front of him without fear, and let the mace come crashing down upon her own head.

Coby's eyes filled with tears as he assumed Lufia had just been killed because of him.

"Shishishi," The sound of laughter caught their attention, and Lufia smiled underneath her hat, "That doesn't work~!" She sang as she pushed the mace off her head, "Because I'm made of rubber!"

She threw her fist back behind her, letting it stretch all the way to the back of the ship, "Gum Gum..."

She smiled wickedly at the shocked look in Alvida's eyes and let her arm whip back, "Pistol!" She cried, punching the fat woman straight off of her feet.

The fist continued to stretch, and lifted her off the deck and into the air. It kept going, not stopping until she was clear of the ship. The force kept her moving as Lufia's arm retracted, and Alvida flew off into the distance.

She smiled as she watched her opponent disappear into the horizon.

A small laugh drew her attention, "Enjoying yourself?" Naruto asked from the side.

He watched her turn to him, and saw her face light up, "Naruto! I was wondering where you went... Wait..." She scrunched up her face as she looked him over, "Something's different about you." She tapped her chin in thought, carefully looking him over.

Her eyes went up to his head and lingered there for a moment. They trailed back down to his waist, looking for something different. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but she was pretty sure he changed something...

Her eyes met his own and a light-bulb went off in her head. "Aha!" She snapped her fingers with a victorious cry, "Your eyes are blue!" She pointed at him.

Naruto gave a fox-like grin, "Yep!" He couldn't help but laugh at her satisfied expression, as if she was ever so pleased with herself for spotting the change.

Ignoring the fact that she had overlooked his lack of ears and tails.

"You done here?" Naruto asked.

She nodded and grabbed Coby by the collar of his shirt, lifting him like you would a small cat.

"Lufia?!" Coby asked, alarmed. He flailed as his feet left the deck. "W-w-what are you doing?!"

She walked over to the railing and carelessly tossed him over the edge.

"AAAHHH-!" His cry was cut off by hitting something soft.

He looked up, and instead of crashing into the water like he thought, he had landed on a cushioned seat. On a boat.

Naruto laughed down at him from the railing, "Are we keeping him? I don't really think we need a cabin boy since we don't have a ship yet."

Copy paled drastically, realizing he might be still be forced to work for pirates of a different crew.

Lufia laughed at his silly expression and hopped down to their boat, "Nope. Coby's going to join the Marines. I figured we could give him a ride."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Catch, Lufia."

She turned around just in time to catch a large sack, "Oof!" She nearly buckled under the unexpected weight, "What the hell is in this?"

Naruto dropped down beside her with a grin. "Treasure."

"Really?!" Lufia said as she dropped the sack in one of the empty seats. She stared at the sack with awe. They had treasure now! That was so Pirate-like!

"Yep! I decided to uh- 'liberate' some of Alvida's treasure. I'm sure she won't mind." He said cheerfully.

He focused for a moment and his body shifted. His eyes deepened back to their normal crimson color, two ears poked through his hair, and nine long, bushy, fox tails sprouted out of his tailbone.

"Aahhh..." He slumped into his normal seat and closed his eyes. He had his fun. Now it was time to relax. He stretched out each of his nine tails before letting them fall limply on the seat in relaxation.

**BOOM!**

Dammit.

His ears picked up the screams of the pirates overhead. He caught a few words through the chaos, they had spotted a few Marine Ships.

He didn't bother moving, he had earned his time to relax.

Cannons were firing as the Marines did their damnedest to sink the Pirate Ship. Ignoring the holes they were putting into the cruise ship beside them.

_'Are they trying to kill a ship's worth of civilians?'_ Naruto scoffed. They probably didn't care either way.

Their ship was wedged between the two larger vessels, so they had little to fear from the shots. Technically, they weren't pirates yet, so they didn't have to worry about the marines, but he had a feeling they would still be in trouble if they were caught.

"Yugito can you get us out of here?" He asked.

She nodded and started fueling the engine. "Where to?"

Lufia responded, "The closest Marine Base!"

Yugito nodded and scanned the map in front of her. "It looks like... The closest is in Shells Town."

"Then set a course for Shells Town!" Lufia proclaimed pointing off into the horizon. In the wrong direction.

"Shells Town?!" Coby squeaked. "B-But that's where they are keeping the Pirate Hunter!"

"Hah?" Lufia looked at Coby. "Pirate Hunter?"

He nodded grimly, "R-Roronoa Zoro. The 'Pirate Hunter'. They say that he's a demon in human skin!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that comment. _'A Demon?'_

"He was captured by the Marines a few weeks ago, they've been holding him there ever since!" Coby said, somehow making himself more nervous as he talked about the pirate hunter.

"He was captured?" Lufia deflated into her seat. "Awww, man... He must be weak then. If he let them capture him so easily."

"No way! He's crazy strong. A vicious beast!" Coby insisted, shaking his arms rapidly.

Lufia tapped her chin in thought, "Maybe I'll recruit him then! If he's a good guy."

Naruto tuned out Coby's rapid warnings as Lufia started to argue with him. He turned to Yugito, who had stopped with the controls to pay attention to the conversation.

"What do you think?" He asked.

She narrowed her eyes, and shook her head after a moment. "I don't think so. To find one in the East Blue of all places..." She trailed off.

He sighed, "Guess that would be too easy, wouldn't it?"

He heard the cannon-fire pickup, the ships were getting closer.

"Time to go."

Yugito nodded her agreement and placed her hands back into the controls.

Lufia caught the action and stopped her argument with an excited smile. She pulled her hat tight against her head and sat down beside Naruto.

"Huh?" Coby blinked at Lufia as she walked away from their 'conversation'.

He saw some sort of light coming from the Helm and scratched his head with confusion. The group looked to be bracing for something.

"Hey guys... What's wron-!"

The engines popped and Yugito's fire blasted them from between the ships with force. They shot across the water, fast as a bullet, before any cannonballs could get a lucky hit on them.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Coby let out an unmanly shriek as he was thrown off his feet.

If not for one of Naruto's tails snagging him around the ankle, he would've been thrown from the ship.

The three large marine ships would later report seeing a black blur, kicking up water behind it as it cut through the waves...

...And the sound of a small girl's scream.

* * *

**Author's Notes (Minor Spoilers)**

Chapter 2 is complete.

Female Luffy! I've seen many fics keep their female Luffy's name as Luffy, but I felt that her name should be changed alongside her gender. Do you like the name Lufia? Got any better suggestions?

I skipped over a bit of Lufia's action with Alvida in favor of Naruto meeting Nami. I felt we have all seen the Luffy vs Alvida fight enough times already, and I wasn't really going to change anything.

Hunter's shape is based on a modern speed boat. Just imagine it One-Piece styled, the engine on the back is just a bigger version of the one on Ace's Striker.

Naruto's Devil-Fruit is a Canon fruit, the 'Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kyubi no Kitsune' The abilities themselves haven't been fleshed out, besides the ability to transform into other people. So, I'm going to be creating the abilities myself.

Yugito's Fruit, however, is not a Canon Fruit, and I'll be creating those from scratch.

Naruto's crew - I'm still uncertain about who is going to be in it. It will probably all be cross-over picks, any suggestions? Or if you aren't feeling Naruto Characters, is there any One Piece character you'd like to see join?

For the record, I **won't** be using Hinata or Sakura in this fic. They can break fics for a lot of people, so that is a landmine I'd rather not step on. I have nothing against either character, but I don't think either of them would fit in the One Piece universe very well.

I also won't be using Sasuke or anyone like that. Can you honestly imagine a broody 'Avenger' joining a happy, fun-loving group like the Straw Hat Pirates? Because I can't.


	3. The Swordsman

Chapter Three: The Swordsman

"We made it! The Marine base city!" Lufia let out a cheer as she stood on the docks.

It hadn't taken them long to reach Shells Town, and they had just pulled into the port.

Naruto and Yugito joined her on the docks a moment later, "What are we doing first, Lufia?" Naruto asked. He did have some business to handle in the city, but he could handle that later. She seemed happy to be here, so he didn't mind letting her have her fun first.

"Let's go see Zoro!" She said and started marching off into the city.

Coby scrambled out of the boat and ran to catch up, still speaking his fears about the Pirate Hunter.

Yugito watched the girl walk off with a bit of exasperation, "Does she even know where he is?" She asked Naruto.

He laughed and chased after Lufia. Giving no answer to her question.

She sighed and followed along. She was used to it.

* * *

The town itself was rather normal. It had the general feel of a port city, with the merchant district being directly in front of the port.

Anything from fish to fruit was sold, and Lufia couldn't help but sample a few.

The town seemed happy enough, with townspeople chatting along the houses or roads, and even a few children running along.

Until Lufia mentioned Zoro.

Everyone in hearing range jumped out of their skin in shock, hiding behind crates or corners as if the devil himself had come to town.

"Guess they are afraid of the swordsman," Yugito noted, as they passed by the shocked group. _'Strange... To be afraid of a man in chains... There must be more to the story.' _Both of her Captains didn't seem to worry, but she'd keep her guard up.

"Let's go check out the base," Lufia said, already walking in that direction. The Marine base was stationed on a large hill, overlooking the town. So you could see it from pretty much anywhere on the island.

Coby broke into a nervous sweat as they approached the base, still worried about joining the Marines. "Rumor has it that this base is run by a man named Captian Morgan..."

The locals shouted out in fear, and flinched away from the group once again.

Lufia laughed at their reactions, "What a funny town!"

Naruto and Yugito shared a glance.

"It's strange... I understand Zoro, but why are they afraid of a Marine Captain's name?" Coby asked.

"Because the world isn't just black and white," Yugito said. She had seen the dark side of the Marines first hand. Corruption was not uncommon.

Coby looked up at her, not understanding. "What do you mean?"

"Are all pirates bad?" She asked.

"Yes." He answered immediately. He had wanted to be a marine for that exact reason! To catch evil pirates.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "So Lufia is a bad person?"

"That's not..." He trailed off as he saw the logic. Lufia was a good person, she had saved him even after he told her he was going to become a marine. Yugito didn't have to finish her expression for him to understand. 'Not all marines were good.' Is what she was saying, but was it true? Coby found it hard to believe, his dream was everything to him. To hear that it might not be as good as he imagined it...

"Alright!" The voice of Lufia caught their attention, "We're here!"

The group was now in front of a large metal gate, with the symbol of the Marines etched into it.

Lufia didn't wait and ran over to the wall, pulling herself up to the edge with her rubber powers.

Naruto followed Lufia over to the wall, "Let's see this 'Demon'," he said.

"There he is!" Lufia said after peering over the edge.

"There's no way..." Coby trailed off as he looked into the courtyard.

There in the center, was a man. He looked battered and bruised, and was tied to a post. He wore long black trousers that tucked inside of a pair of black boots. A dirty white shirt covered his chest, covered with minor bloodstains. A black bandanna wrapped around his head, shadowing his eyes. Overall, he cut a rather imposing figure even though he was still tied to a post.

Despite his situation, his feet were extended out in front of him with only his heels touching the ground in an almost lazy posture. As if he was simply waiting to be released.

"A black hood... and a green haramaki..." Coby whispered in disbelief, "It's really him. Roronoa Zoro!"

Naruto and Yugito popped up beside them, looking over the captured man carefully.

Naruto's eyes lost their interest quickly, and he dropped his head on the wall with disappointment. "What do you think Yugito?"

She kept her eyes locked on the man, but crinkled her nose in minor disgust, "He smells... dirty."

Naruto sighed, "Dirty... but normal." He agreed.

He dropped off the wall and landed on his feet, "Well, I've lost interest. Are you still planning on recruiting him Lufia?" He asked.

"He can get away easily if we just untie the ropes!" She said cheerfully.

They all ignored Coby's frantic dissuading.

Yugito dropped off of as well, and stood beside Naruto.

"Hey, Lufia!" He called out, "I'm going to go handle some business in town, are you good here?"

Lufia nodded and turned her attention back to the swordsman. Just as a young girl placed a ladder beside them.

* * *

"So what do you really think?" Naruto asked again as they walked back to the boat. Yugito was following beside him, having nothing else to do in town.

Yugito frowned, "I think... he is normal... But it is certainly strange, he looked strong enough to break out of those ropes by himself. I wonder why he remains there."

"And Lufia?" He asked, since they had a moment in private. He was curious to see what his best friend thought about their new crewmate.

"She's... stronger than I thought."

He raised an eyebrow, asking her to elaborate.

"When you first fought, I didn't take her very seriously. I didn't think that rubber would be a very useful power, and considering her personality..." She trailed off, not wanting to accidentally insult her new Captain. "But she proved to be strong, using her rubber powers in ways that I don't think I would've thought to. She's much like you in that way." She had seen Lufia use some ingenuity in their short battle that reminded her much of Naruto's own.

"She's strong alright! She fought pretty evenly with me. Her rubber powers add some serious power to her punches." Naruto said with a laugh, rubbing his stomach as he remembered the hits she landed.

"But you were only using your hands!" Yugito said with a bit more force than she intended. She didn't like to think that Naruto had been matched by the girl, even with her Devil-Fruit powers. Naruto was strong, he was her Captain, and he hadn't shown much of that strength in their fight.

Naruto nodded to her point, "True, I was holding back, but so was she." He said, catching her attention.

Seeing the weird look she was giving him he explained, "Come on Yugito. Do you really think Ace's sister would only know _one_ technique?" He shook his head, "No, our fight was more of a test. We were just feeling each other out, seeing how the other fought."

She conceded the point.

"...You seem to be getting attached to her." She noted.

"Jealous?" He said, half-teasing half-serious, he was slightly worried Yugito was going to start feeling 'replaced' by the young girl.

She scoffed and smiled at him, wiping away a few of his fears, "Not on your life. It'll take much more than a rubber-girl to scare me off, Captain. You're going to be stuck with me for a long time."

He smiled with relief, glad that his friend wasn't bothered by his actions.

They continued their walk in comfortable silence until they arrived at the boat.

Naruto stepped in, and went for his bag of gold. Throwing the large sack over his shoulder, he stepped back onto the pier. He smiled at Yugito, "Time to go make some money."

* * *

"I can give you five million Bellies." The marine said, for what felt like the hundreth time.

Naruto frowned.

They were inside the Marine base, _legally_ he might add, at the branch that dealt with Bounties. Fortunately for them, every Marine Bounty Office also had a gold broker, so they could exchange the treasure they had 'liberated' from Alvida for proper money.

He had yet to commit any actual piracy, and he no bounty yet. So, he decided to use the Marine base to turn in their loot.

Their 'broker' however, was being stubborn. They had been at it for the last ten minutes.

"I'm certain this is worth _at least_ eight million," Naruto insisted, gesturing to the items and gold spread out on the table between them. "I may not have a good enough eye to appraise things like this, but I've been around enough gold to get a good enough idea of its quality."

The Marine sighed and rubbed his brow, "I'm sorry sir, but I can only give you what it's worth."

Yugito was getting agitated, and glared at the man, "Listen, you-!"

Naruto raised a hand to cut her off.

He leaned in, and spoke in a quiet, but threatening, tone, "You wouldn't be trying to _steal_ from us... would you?"

The man recoiled in fear, and started sweating nervously, "N-N-No..." He shook his head rapidly, "N-Never."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, and caught the man's with his own. His eyes flashed red.

The marine got a glazed look in his eye for a moment, then shook his head to clear it.

Naruto smiled and leaned back in his chair, "Now I think you can give us the full price, right?"

The marine took another look at the gold and nodded, "Yes... I can't believe I was trying to enforce Morgan's 'Tax'... Sorry about that."

The Zoan-types looked at each other, "Tax?" Yugito asked.

The man nodded grimly, "The Captain of the local base... A man named 'Axe Hand' Morgan, enforces a heavy tax on the entire town. He forces any merchants to enforce the tax on visitors."

"And that includes the gold exchange." Naruto speculated.

The man nodded.

"How much is the tax?" Yugito asked.

The man looked ashamed, pulling his cap down over his eyes, "...Fifty percent."

They both stared at the man in shock.

"How does he get away with that?!" Yugito asked, in a rare moment of visible anger.

The man flinched back, "T-There isn't anyone who can resist him. He's too strong."

Yugito didn't believe that, "And what about the marines themselves? They just allow this to happen? Surely, one man couldn't overpower the entire group of marines stationed here?"

He looked at her as if she had just grown wings, "I-Impossible. He kills anyone who resists him. No one would even try to fight back."

She scoffed. _'So the marines here are all spineless. Typical.' _She thought to herself. She already had a low opinion of the marines, and it was falling further now.

Naruto bit his lip in thought. On one hand, that Tax was down-right tyrannical. Part of him screamed to go kick Morgan's ass. Another part of him won out, telling him to simply wait it out for now. He felt like the situation would sort itself out with them now in town and, like Lufia, he trusted his instincts. For now, he'd focus on his business, then worry about the town.

Naruto smiled and gestured back to the gold, "So how much is it really worth?" He asked, bringing them back on topic.

The man looked it over one more time, "Ten million for the whole thing, I'd say." He scratched his chin. "I may be slightly off when it comes to the gemstones, but you'd have to find someone specialized to appraise them."

He nodded in acceptance, that was more than he figured it was worth. "We'll give you the full thing, no point in searching for someone else, it would just be more trouble than its worth. Ten million is a good haul."

The marine nodded and retrieved the money.

A short transaction later, and they were leaving the base ten million Bellies richer.

Yugito didn't wait, and the moment they stepped out of the base she asked the question that was on her mind, "What are we going to do?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"About Morgan!" She said impatiently. She knew Naruto wouldn't allow this _dictator_ to terrorize the town. He was too damn noble for that.

"Oh..." He said casually, "...Nothing."

"Nothing?!" She repeated in shock.

He gave her a knowing smile, "I have a feeling the situation will sort itself out."

He could see she was unsatisfied with his answer, but continued before she had a chance to question him further. "Why don't you go watch over Lufia? I'm sure she's going to get herself in some sort of trouble here." He suggested. While he did have faith in his partner, he still worried for her especially after hearing about Captian Morgan.

She glared at him, knowing he was avoiding giving her the answer she wanted. She relented, after a few seconds, "Alright." She dropped her glare and walked off into the town. Maybe she'd learn something, she did want to know why her Captain put so much faith into Lufia, a girl he had just met.

She didn't smell the girl anywhere nearby so she'd have to track her down. She didn't pause in her step as her form started to shrink, and she fell to all fours in the form of a black cat.

As Naruto watched his companion leave, his smile dropped.

He knew Yugito could avoid being seen, especially with her Devil-Fruit powers, but he'd rather not involve her with this next little trip.

He turned back to the Marine base with a calculating glint in his eyes. His form shifted, his skin darkened slightly and his build shrank in on itself. His orange open robe slowly grew to cover his entire form, and the colors melted into blue and white. His hair turned to a shaggy, darker brown, and he covered it with a blue and white cap.

In just a few seconds, the blonde had all but disappeared, and in his place was the form of the marine officer they had just finished their business with.

The 'marine' looked up at the base with a fox-like smirk. Time to handle his _other_ business.

* * *

Breaking into a marine base was simple when you dressed like one. He walked through the halls with a calm gait, as long as he _looked_ as if he belonged there, he knew no one would question him.

He maneuvered through the halls searching for a very specific room. The base itself was rather large for a simple port, so it took him some time to find it.

The only thing worth noting in the base was one hideously pink door, decorated with flowers and hearts. Belonging to a 'Helmentto' or something like that.

But eventually, he found the door he was looking for, the Captain's Quarters. The Captain himself was at the top of the base, alongside a large amount of marines. He wasn't sure why, but it was probably something stupid.

Since the Captain was missing, the only person he had to worry about was a single marine standing guard.

"Hey! You there!" The guard called out. "You feeling okay?" He said with slight suspicion, as he noticed the 'marine' in front of him had his head down. The guard couldn't get a good look at him due to the hat he had pulled down, shadowing his eyes.

The guard grew a bit nervous as the man didn't answer, and slowly walked toward him. "Hey!" The guard reached out to grab the man's shoulder, "I asked you a quest-!"

He never finished his sentence, as the man lashed out and buried a fist in his gut. The last thing he saw before blacking out, was the man raising his head, displaying his slitted red eyes.

Naruto smiled to himself as the guard fell unconscious.

He opened the door to the Captain's room and scanned it quickly. Seeing it was empty, like he had assumed, he dragged the guard in behind him, and shut the door. It wouldn't do if someone had come along and noticed the marine.

As he stepped deeper into the room, he let his form shift back to the 'Human Form' he wore in towns. It always felt uncomfortable to 'wear' someone else's body. It was like a pair of shoes that were one size too big or small. He could never get used to it.

He stretched happily, glad to be back in his own skin.

Moving through the room, he began his search.

He looked through everything he could find, desks, drawers, and filing cabinets. He found a lot of reports. Most of them were about Morgan's 'rule' over the town. Documenting the various forms of taxes and 'tributes' that the tyrannical Captain demanded from the local populace.

As he moved through the papers, he found some reports that sickened him. The Captain didn't stop at stealing money it seemed. He executed people too. Marines that rejected, or even heisitated, to complete his orders, were cut down by the man himself. People that openly went agains the local Marines were given a public execution in order to scare the rest of the populace into submission.

And that was just the start of it. Everyone that disobeyed his orders was punished.

No matter who it was.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the papers in anger. He read further on the page, detailing how the Captain had not stopped at men.

He punished women and children too.

He _executed_ women and children.

Naruto blue eyes turned red as they burned with righteous fury. He took a deep breath and threw the papers back on the desk. Morgan was going to pay. He had a feeling that Lufia was going to kick his ass since the crew member she wanted was captured by the man, but if he was still in one piece by the time Naruto got there...

He sighed to himself and took another look at the pile of papers, none of them held what he wanted.

He'd have to keep looking.

He set to work on another cabinet, meticulously searching through each and every report he could find.

Eventually, he found one that held some promise. _'...Sixteenth branch..?' _His eyes narrowed as he went through the report. It was nothing substantial, more of a rumor than anything, but it kept his interest. Some of the mentions were extremely suspicious. There was a Pirate base set up in the very same string of islands that held the base itself. _'How do they get away with that?' _

He had no time to consider the matter further, as the sound of a door opening caught his attention.

Alarmed, his eyes shot up prepared to strike down whoever had just caught him before they had the chance to sound the alarm.

But surprisingly, he didn't see a marine standing in the door, but the young orange haired girl from before.

He froze as their eyes met, and they spent a moment in awkward silence as they both noticed each other.

She stared at him with shock. Her eyes darted to the passed out marine on the floor, then to the mess he had made to the Captain's desk, and finally, to the papers he held in his hands.

He chuckled nervously, "Uhhh... Yo?" He waved at her lamely, still surprised by her entrance.

The sound of marines scrambling across the corridors flooded in through the open door, and the girl jumped a bit in surprise.

"She went this way!"

"Apprehend her!"

"Don't let her get away!"

She rushed in and closed the door behind her, not wanting to get caught.

As she pressed her back into the door, her eyes shot back up to him, "What are you doing here?!" She hissed.

He shrugged, "Looking for something. And doing it _quietly_." He placed emphasis on the word 'quietly' since he assumed she was the one who caused the panic in the base.

"That was _not_ my fault!" She defended herself immediately.

"Then who was it?"

"I don't know! They were on alert by the time I got here! I think something happened up top."

He turned his attention back to the papers, folding up the one in his hands and stowing it away in his jacket.

She entered the room hesitantly, looking around for something. "Did you see a safe in here?"

He pointed to the side of the room. A safe was exposed, hidden behind a few barrels. "I'm no good with locks, so I haven't touched it."

She smiled gratefully and rushed over to it, flying through the combination lock with practiced ease.

He tucked away a few more papers of importance, and looked back at the desk he had strewn papers all over. He considered cleaning up the mess he made, but it hardly mattered, he wasn't going to be staying in the town for very long, and it wasn't like anyone had seen him.

"ARRGHH!"

He glanced to the side to see the pretty orange haired girl gripping her head with frustration. She had a small parchment clutched in one of her hands.

"Something wrong?"

His hand latched out to grab the rolled up paper she had viciously thrown at him. Curious, he opened it.

**'I have flashily taken the map! -Buggy'**

It said, with a Jolly Roger underneath it. The skull had a large red nose, indicating it was the Jolly Roger of the Buggy Pirates. He had recognized it from a bounty poster he had taken from Morgan's desk. Fifteen million if he remembered correctly, it could be worth looking into.

"You're looking for a map?" He asked.

"A map of the Grand Line..." She stopped when she realized she was telling the man who had cut down those pirates her goal. She got to her feet planning to leave quickly, he seemed nice enough but she didn't want to spend too much time around him. She froze when she heard him scoff.

"A map of the Grand Line? Ridiculous."

"Oh? And why is that?" She asked.

He briefly considered telling her, but shook his head, "You wouldn't believe me. You'd have to see it for yourself."

She made for the door, and fled the room quickly, catching a parting comment from the blonde.

"It was good to see you again. Miss Pirate Thief."

* * *

Naruto smiled happily as he sat down on the large wall that encircled the Marine base's courtyard.

The small black cat beside him mewled as it recognized his presence and crawled into his lap.

"She's having fun again, isn't she?" He said.

"Yes, but acting very foolish." The cat replied.

Naruto laughed, "Do you really mean that?"

The cat watched as the group of marines drew their blades and rushed at the young girl wearing a straw hat. The girl was panicking dramatically as she tried and failed to untie the swordsman. "Perhaps... She acts carefree, placing too much trust into people she has only just met."

"And the swordsman?"

The cat smiled. "He's about to cave."

The sound of swords clashing together pulled them back to the action.

Zoro had finally broken himself out of the ropes and reached for his swords in a flurry of motion. A split second later, he was deflecting the blades of a half-dozen men, by himself. His swords were poised in a unique stance. Three of them. Two in his hands, and one clutched between his teeth.

Lufia smiled widely, "So cool!"

The marines faces took on nervous expressions as they found their blades rooted in place.

"Move... and you die." The swordsman growled, sending a shiver down the spine of the Marines.

"Too scary!" The marines cried, terrified of the 'Demon'.

"Listen up." The swordsman said, catching Lufia's attention.

"With this act of resistance, I'll offically be branded as a criminal. So I'll do it. I'll become a pirate. I promise you that." He declared, "However. I'm going to focus on fulfilling my ambition!"

"Ambition?" Lufia asked.

"To be the World's Greatest Swordsman. If, somewhere along the line, you get in the way of that ambition..." He smirked, "You'd better accept responsibility and apologize to me."

Lufia kept her smile wide as ever, "The World's Greatest Swordsman? Sounds good! The Queen of Pirates wouldn't have anything less on her crew!"

"You sure talk big. But it doesn't matter at this point, whether it's as a pirate or whatever else, I will spread my name throughout this world!" He boasted, eyes locked on his new Captain with determination.

Captain Morgan grew tired of their conversation, "What are you all standing around for?! Kill them!" He shouted at the still frozen marines.

Lufia smirked and grabbed her hat, lifting one leg off the ground. "Duck, Zoro!"

He didn't question her first order and ducked low, lowering his swords with him.

"Gum Gum... Whip!" She threw her leg to the side, letting it stretch out before whipping it across the courtyard, striking all the marines behind Zoro. They flew backward, crashing into a heap at the feet of Morgan.

"What the hell are you?" Zoro said as he got back on his feet.

"I ate the Gum Gum Fruit." She replied as her leg snapped back to her, "I'm a Rubber-Woman."

"A rubber human!" One of the marines cried.

"Captain we should retreat!"

"They're too strong!"

"We can't even handle Zoro by himself!"

Morgan had a murderous expression, and raised his axe-hand threateningly, "This is a direct order! Everyone who just spouted weakness, must now shoot yourself in the head! I have no use for such weaklings!"

Everyone in the area widened their eyes in shock at the cruel command.

The pirate crew watched with growing disbelief as a few of the marines actually lifted their guns. With tear-filled eyes their pistols were placed against their own temples.

"Those troops are mental!" Zoro said, taking his sword out of his mouth.

Lufia's eyes grew cold and she rushed at the group of marines. They panicked as she ran toward them, but she passed them by. Instead, she jumped at the man responsible for the whole mess.

"Your opponent is me!" She threw a powerful punch directly at Morgan, who blocked the blow with his massive axe. He grunted with frustration as the force pushed him back.

"Straw hat! Rankless nobodies have no right to defy me! I am the Marine Captain of Shells town, Captain 'Axe-Hand' Morgan!" He shouted with 'Authority'.

Lufia stared back with a blank face, "I'm Lufia! Nice to meetcha!"

His face flashed with anger, "Die!" He threw his axe-hand across in a deadly swipe.

She jumped over his strike effortlessly, landing behind him. He spun around with anger swinging down in a vicious blow.

She jumped to the side, dodging once again. She watched as the axe struck the ground, splitting it apart with the force. She took the moment to launch herself into the air, and once he had pulled his axe free she was already in motion.

Two sandled feet crashed into his face, sending him stumbling back.

"Runt!" He growled, and threw himself at her once again. "Die!"

She rushed at him, dodging another swipe at the last second, and kicking him in the jaw. "No thanks!"

The strike sent him to the ground, and before he could even move she was standing over him, clutching his shirt in one hand.

Her other hand was raised and she brought it down in a powerful blow, punching him across the face harshly.

"You call yourself a Marine?!" She struck again, her voice laced with anger.

"You destroyed Coby's dream!" Another punch, furious with the corruption that had ruined her friend's views of his dream.

The marines surrounding them were all frozen in shock, not even bothering to help their Captain.

Naruto watched with unwavering eyes as his partner beat the Captain mercilessly. He didn't bother to stop her, the bastard deserved every blow he got. A flash of yellow caught his attention, and he saw the idiot son moving up behind Coby. Sighing, he lifted the cat off his lap and dropped off the wall silently.

"Hold it, Straw Hat! Over here!" Helmeppo shouted, holding a flintlock against the head of Coby.

Lufia didn't even acknowledge the voice, and kept raining punches on the Marine Captain's face.

"I said stop it! Are you stupid?! I have a hostage here!"

Seeing his new Captain wasn't going to stop, Zoro called out, "Hey."

She glanced up and saw the man holding Coby hostage. She dropped Morgan and stepped over him staring at the two with a blank face.

"If you value this guy's life, don't move! One move and I'll kill him!" He screamed, but his shaking legs betrayed his false confidence.

Coby was trembling in fear, but a glance at Lufia's face forced his latent confidence to the surface once more. "Lufia! I won't get in your way! Even if it means dying!" He screamed with conviction. Tears washed down his cheeks, but his eyes never wavered. He was prepared for death.

Lufia smiled but didn't respond, instead just looked behind the duo.

A bone-chilling laugh filled the air, and Helmeppo froze in his tracks.

"Well said!"

Helmeppo started sweating bullets as a voice came from behind him, he turned his head robotically and stared into the feral grin of a red-eyed man.

Naruto slowly reached up and took the gun out of his hands. He smiled widely, baring his elongated fangs. "Boo!"

"Hiiiieeee!" Helmeppo shrieked and fell forwards landing on the ground. He flipped over and stared up at the blonde fearfully.

Naruto gave an evil laugh as he spun the flintlock in his hand, "These things aren't toys y'know. They aren't for threatening people." He placed a foot on the chest of the bastard and pointed the pistol at his face. His face turned stone-cold.

Helmeppo paled as Naruto slowly placed his finger on the trigger. He squeezed.

Click.

Helmoppo's heart nearly stopped as the sound of an empty gun reached his ears. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he fainted on the spot.

Naruto's serious expression dropped as the bastard son fainted, and a big grin stretched across his face. He opened his left hand, letting the ammunition he had slipped out of the gun fall to the ground.

Lufia laughed happily at Naruto's arrival, blatantly ignoring the massive shadow looming behind her.

Zoro blanched and placed his sword back in his mouth.

"Die! Straw Hat!" Captain Morgan screamed as he brought his Axe-Hand down, intending to end the life of the girl that had beaten him.

The blade froze a few inches short of her head.

"Nice! Zoro!" Lufia said without turning around.

He clicked his swords back into their sheaths, just as blood spewed out of the chest of the Marine Captain. "Just doing my job... Captain."

"Captain Morgan has been defeated!" A marine cried in disbelief.

"Impossible!"

"These people are monsters!"

Zoro turned to the remaining marines, "If anyone of you still want to capture us, come forward!" He said, placing his hand on his hilt.

Surprisingly, the group of marines threw their weapons up in a massive cheer.

"Captain Morgan was defeated!"

"We're free!"

"Hurray!"

Zoro watched them celebrate with minor confusion, "They seem happy he was defeated..."

"Is it that surprising? He _did_ terrorize the town."

Zoro turned to see the blonde from before approaching them, holding a black cat in his arms.

...

Zoro blinked at the blonde. "Who are you?"

* * *

"So you're my... second Captain?" Zoro asked with confusion.

They had moved into the local bar owned by Rirka, a young woman that Lufia had introduced. Naruto had learned that Helmeppo had started this whole mess inside the bar.

Nine days ago, he had barged into the bar with a rabid dog, declaring that his precious 'pet' wouldn't be bothered and that the owner of the bar had to feed them both for free.

The bar owner's daughter tried to scare the dog off with a broom after it had started to attack a few of the customers. The dog lunged at her, intent on killing her.

Naturally, Zoro, who had just come in for a quick drink, responded by drawing his blade. He saved the young girl by killing the dog, but Helmeppo took offense to it. After a short argument, in which Helmeppo threatened to have the woman and her young daughter executed, they agreed to a deal.

Zoro would be tied up for thirty days, if he survives he would be free to go.

But Helmeppo never intended to honor the deal and, like the bastard son he was, he later bragged about executing Zoro publically.

Unfortunately for him, Lufia was in the room. The next thing he knew was a stinging sensation in his cheek as Lufia's punch knocked him out of his chair.

Angered by his declaration, Lufia went to free the Swordsman.

Which lead to the events that Naruto had arrived to see.

Shortly after defeating Captain Morgan, Zoro had collapsed from hunger so they searched for someplace to eat. Rurika kindly offered to serve them, as thanks for saving the town.

"That's right!" Lufia said cheerfully, diving back into her meal.

Zoro watched her eat with a mixture of disgust and morbid fascination, "How could you possibly have a bigger appetite than me?" He had been tied to that post for nearly two weeks without food!

"I can't help it!" Lufia said with a small blush, "It's so good!"

"Thank you for treating us to food as well," Naruto said to the barkeep.

"Thank you!" Coby agreed.

"It's no problem! I'm just happy the town has been saved." Ririka said.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Still... I didn't really do much, so I feel bad."

"No way!" Coby disagreed, "You saved my life!"

Naruto shook his head, "That may be, but I'm sure Lufia or Zoro would've saved you if I wasn't there. Helmeppo didn't seem like he had the spine to pull the trigger anyway."

"Yeah, he looked ready to piss himself!" Lufia laughed as she remembered how Naruto had nearly given the man a heart attack.

"You really are amazing!" Rika, the barkeep's daughter, said as she watched Lufia eat.

"Yeah, I am!" Lufia said without shame, "And I'm going to get even more amazing! 'Cause I'm going to be Queen of the Pirates!" She looked over to Zoro with her usual wide smile, "And I even have a crew!"

Zoro relaxed and patted his stomach, content with his meal, "So? How many others have you gathered besides me? If you're aiming for the Queen of the Pirates, you must have a good amount of men gathered already. How many?"

"It's just us!" She proclaimed proudly.

He stared back in shock, "Huh?! Just us three?"

Naruto shook his head, "Four. Us four."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow and looked around the table, his eyes settling on Coby, "The brat is staying with us? I thought he was going to be a Marine."

Coby shook his head rapidly, "No! I'm not going with you guys, as much as I appreciate what you've done for me, I still want to be a Marine!"

"Then who..." He trailed off as he noticed the only other occupant at the table.

A black cat was sitting in Naruto's lap, staring back at him.

"You've got to be kidding me." He deadpanned.

"Hmm?" Naruto asked innocently, scratching the cat behind the ear.

"We have a _cat_ in our crew?!" He shouted at Naruto.

"What's the problem Zoro?" Lufia asked, not understanding why he was getting worked up.

"How is a cat supposed to be a pirate?!"

"Got a problem with cats?" A stern _feminine_ voice asked.

Zoro's eyes snapped to the cat in disbelief. "Did that cat just...?"

"Talk?" She finished with a tilt of her head, "Yes, I did."

"How?" He asked simply, numb to surprises at this point.

"I ate a Devil-Fruit..." She said as her body grew larger on Naruto's lap. Her features slowly melded into that of a human's. Long blonde hair wrapped from the neck down in bandages. Her usual deep blue outfit was unbothered by the transformation, thanks to the wonders of Devil-Fruit powers. The only cat-like feature that remained was her sharp yellow slitted eyes.

After a moment, her transformation finished, leaving a blonde woman in the cat's place on Naruto's lap. She leaned into his chest with contentment, and crossed her legs. She threw a smirk at Zoro's bewildered expression. "...I'm a Cat-Woman."

Zoro stared at her for a moment, then frowned and sent a suspicious look toward his empty beer mug. He knew he had drank too much, but he had gone without for nine days!

He looked back up at his second Captain. "What's next? You going to sprout wings and fly away?" He asked Naruto. Surely they had nothing left to surprise him with. He'd had enough of this shit.

He smiled innocently, "No, that would just be ridiculous... I might grow a tail, or nine, though."

Zoro waited for the punchline... It didn't come.

"...You're serious?"

Naruto shrugged carelessly, he'd find out sooner or later.

Zoro took a deep breath to calm his irritation and got them back on topic, "So you're aiming to be the Queen of the Pirates, but only have four crew members total?" He asked.

"Yep! And Naruto's going to be the King!" She declared, pointing at the blonde with a meat bone she had just finished off.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at Naruto, "So you're aiming for the top as well?"

He nodded, "Yep! I'm going to be the future King, and nothing is going to stand in my way." He said with conviction. He might not shout it to the heavens like Lufia does, but his ambition was just as large.

"You guys seem pretty serious about this." Zoro said, "Do we at least have a ship? Surely the future King and Queen need a ship."

Naruto pointed out the window, they could see the docks from the bar, and Hunter sat patiently in the water, waiting for their return.

Zoro didn't seem too impressed. It was an odd design, one he'd never seen before, but that was to be expected from the craziness he had already seen from his new crew. "Kind of small isn't it? How big is the crew going to be?"

"At least twenty!" Lufia declared, "But we are going to need a bigger ship! One with a massive pirate flag!" She said, already picturing the massive ship they were going to have in the future.

Zoro rubbed his brow in frustration, "I can't believe I agreed to have this girl as my Captain."

"I think Lufia was born without any sense of planning." Coby chuckled.

Lufia didn't take offense, and waved it off, "It doesn't matter. I'll leave the planning to Naruto! He's probably better at it than me anyway."

He raised an eyebrow, "Oh? I guess I'll handle it then." He should've seen that coming, he supposed, but it didn't make much of a difference. Foxes were known for their cunning. So he'd handle it just fine.

"Hey, sis!"

"Hmm?" Lufia looked down to Riku who was trying to catch her attention.

"Where are you going to go now?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious? To the Grand Line!"

Coby spit out his drink in shock, "What?! But you only have four members! There is no way you can handle the Grand Line. No way! You'd die! Impossible!"

"Don't be such a downer." Naruto ignored his protests, "We're all strong. We'll be fine."

"Why do you care anyway? It's not like your coming along." Zoro asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"No... but I'm worried about you. Is that so wrong?! Lufia and I haven't known each other long, but we are still friends!" He said.

"Right?" Coby asked with a timid voice.

"Yeah!" Lufia smiled at him. "Even when we part ways, we'll always be friends!"

He gave a bashful smile in return. "It's thanks to you guys that I finally found the courage to live for my beliefs. I've decided to make my dream come true! I'm going to become a marine!"

"Shouldn't you be more worried about yourself, then?" Zoro spoke up, catching his attention.

"...Eh?"

"Even if you were a chore boy, you did spend two years on Alvida's pirate ship. If they find out, you'll never be able to join." He warned, crushing the boy's spirits.

As if on cue, the door opened and a squad of marines slowly funneled into the bar.

"Is it true that you are pirates?!" The leader asked.

"Yeah. We gained a member and became a pirate crew just today!" Lufia declared proudly.

Naruto had to resist face-palming. She could've just lied about it, they hadn't done anything illegal, besides break into the Marine Base courtyard, but they had saved the town by doing so. He understood her reasons though, while she did seem to be blissfully ignorant of the consequences, he knew she wasn't going to hide her status as a pirate. Being a pirate was her pride, not something she would conceal just to spend some extra time in town. It was something that he respected, but his 'fox' side still thought it was going to eventually get them into trouble.

"We appreciate that you saved our base and this town from that tyrant! However, now that we know you are pirates, in the name of the navy, we cannot stand by quietly! Please leave the town at once!" The marine said, "Out of respect for your deeds, we will refrain from contacting marine headquarters."

The pirate crew didn't even have a chance to respond before the villagers started to shout protests. A small group was already standing outside the bar, hoping to get a chance to see the town's heroes. Hearing said heroes get thrown out of the town by the Marines got the crowd riled up.

"Hey, navy guy! How can you talk to them like that?!"

"The lot of you were too scared to fight Morgan!"

"We owe these people our lives!"

The inside of the bar was in silence as they contemplated the situation.

Naruto watched Lufia, waiting for her to move first. Half of him expected her to shout back at them, or maybe start a fight, but the other half knew she carefully considered the situation, despite her carefree expression.

She smiled and stood up, "Guess we should go then! Thanks for the food Ririka!"

_'The peaceful route it is then.'_ Naruto thought, standing up as well.

"You guys are leaving already?" Riku said sadly.

Lufia leaned down and ruffled the little girl's hair. "Yeah." She picked up a bag of rations that Ririka had given her, and started for the door.

Naruto, Zoro, and Yugito all shared a glance before following after her in silence.

"Aren't you part of their crew?" A voice made them pause in their step.

The marine was talking to Coby, who was shaking in fear.

"Well?" The marine turned to Lufia, "Is he?"

She turned back with a grin, "No. But I know what he's been up to..."

Coby stiffened as he heard her speak.

"You see, there was this reeeeaaaallly fat pirate lady..." Lufia started, spreading her arms out for emphasis. "...Her name was Ahiruda, or something."

Naruto had to use all of his strength to hold back a grin as he caught on to her plan. _'Now __**that**__, is fox-like.'_ He was so proud! He decided to join in on the fun, he couldn't just stand and watch.

"Lufia!" Coby said in disbelief, was she really going to rat him out? After everything they had been through?

"And she had this big iron club. Man, was she an ugly hag!" Lufia walked over to Coby and started poking him in the face to annoy him.

"And you know what? For two whole years..."

Coby couldn't resist himself anymore, and lashed out with a punch before he could stop himself.

Only to be caught by Naruto.

He froze in fear as he stared into the eyes of an angry blonde. A hand latched onto his shirt and he was lifted off his feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing punk?! Trying to hit my partner?!" He growled.

He reeled his fist back, prepared to knock the brat across the room, but his arm was caught by the head marine.

"Please stop! We can't let you cause any more trouble in this town!" The marine pointed at them theatrically, "It's very clear that you aren't crewmates! Please leave this town at once!"

Naruto glared at the pink haired boy in his hand, but stopped and gave him a quick wink.

He scoffed in an exaggerated manner, and threw the boy onto the ground.

They left the bar once more, leaving a pink haired boy staring at their backs in disbelief.

* * *

"That was terrible acting," Zoro said as they walked down the path to their ship.

"Coby will handle the rest, I just know it." Lufia said with a laugh.

"It's a nice way to leave, though. Being unable to turn back 'cause everyone hates you... It's very pirate-like." Zoro commented.

"That's true. It's totally badass!" Naruto smiled happily as he untied the ship and climbed into the boat.

Zoro paused as he looked the ship over once more, "How the hell does this thing move?" It had no sail, and he saw no oars either.

"You'll just have to see," Yugito said as she made her way to the helm.

He shrugged and slid into one of the rows of seats, kicking his feet up in a relaxed posture. He laid he swords down in between the rows, so they didn't fall out of the boat.

"Lufia! Zoro! Naruto! Yugito!" A voice called out to them. They looked back to the docks, and Coby was staring at them with determination. Despite the tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me!" He gave them a Marine salute, proudly showing that they had accepted him into the ranks.

"All hands, salute!"

Coby gasped in shock as the full group of marines from before appeared behind him, following his salute.

Zoro chuckled from his seat, "I've never seen a marine saluting a pirate crew before..."

"See you again, Coby!" Lufia waved goodbye.

"Yugito~" Naruto called to her in a whiney tone as she prepared to start the ship.

"Yes, Naruto?" She turned to see him pouting slightly.

"They totally ruined our pirate exit! They were supposed to hate us!" He whined childishly.

She smirked as she caught his meaning. Reaching into the controls, she fired up her Devil-Fruit powers, full blast.

Naruto snaked a hand around Lufia's waist pulled her down into the seat, not wanting her to accidentally go overboard from this.

"Hey, Zoro... You might want to hold onto something."

"Huh...?"

Fwooom!

The engines roared to life, blasting them from the port at a breakneck speed.

The water surged from the blast, kicking up behind them. It came back down, showering the marines in a heavy downpour.

To their credit, not a single one dropped their salute until the ship was out of sight. Even though they were now soaked from head to toe.

* * *

"...He really did grow tails..." Zoro could only mutter in disbelief as he stared at the nine tails that had appeared out of Naruto's tailbone.

"Ah~hahaha~! S-Stop iiiittt~!" Lufia managed through laughs and choked breaths as she fell victim to a three-tailed tickle attack.

Her head had dropped into Naruto's lap and her body was laying across the seat as his tails tickled her stomach relentlessly.

"Hahaha~! N-Naruto I'm serious this time!" She continued her pleas, but they fell on deaf ears. She threw her feet up and kicked the air as she struggled to catch her breath through the laughter.

The last two times he had stopped, she continued to send an adorable pouting glance in his direction every few seconds until he started back up again. He wasn't falling for it this time. He idly wondered if he could knock her out with just tickling.

"You seem to have pretty good control over them..." Zoro noted, watching how they seemed to aim for specific points on Lufia's body. Naruto himself wasn't even paying that much attention. He had to admit that Devil-Fruits had definitely caught his interest. And there were three users on his new crew. Things were going to be interesting at least.

"Yeah, I've had them for a while, so I had time to practice."

"How long?" He asked with curiosity.

He scratched his head in thought, "Six years? It's kind of hard to judge the time since..." He trailed off as memories of Hell flashed through his mind, and he saw his helmswoman stiffen out of the corner of his eye. Dammit.

Zoro, luckily, was observant enough to catch the slip, and the awkward silence that followed. He didn't press.

Lufia didn't have a choice in the matter, too busy laughing to even pay attention to the conversation.

"What can they do? If you don't mind me asking."

"Besides tickle?" His tails all paused their movements as he asked the question. Lufia went limp in his lap as she regained her breath.

"Besides the tickling." He confirmed.

"Well, a few things... They are each an extra appendage, obviously, so I'm sure you can imagine how that would help in a fight." The swordsman nodded, he used his own mouth for an extra blade, so he understood.

"The nice part is, that they are pretty powerful, the fur on the tails is strong as steel, and the tail itself is a muscle, so I can train it to increase my power."

Zoro's eyes widened. That... seemed powerful.

"As for what they can do, it's pretty much up my imagination. They are pretty long, about the length of an arm, and I can make them grow with my other abilities, so their limits are pretty much just how well I can control them." As a bit of a demonstration, he maneuvered his tails around Lufia.

"Ah~!" She cried as the descended on her.

One snaked under her neck, lifting up her head, another went under her knees, two more held her sides steady, and another wrapped around her ankles. He lifted her off the seat gently, and twisted her around in the air, lowering her carefully, he sat her upright in the seat beside him.

"Shishishi, that was cool!" She said as she was sat down. She smiled at Naruto but pouted slightly, she was having fun in his lap! And she already missed his furry tails...

Her eyes turned big as she looked at him with a pout, and held out her hands.

He rolled his eyes and maneuvered two of his tails into her hands, letting her play with them to her heart's content.

She placed them in her lap happily, and starting petting them with a satisfied look in her eye. Her smile grew wider as she heard a quiet purr emanating from the throat of the man beside her.

"That's a pretty useful ability." Zoro commented, "I was just curious about Devil-Fruits. Yesterday I thought they were a myth. Now I'm sailing with three users. Hard to wrap my mind around."

Naruto waved it off, "Don't worry about it. It's no problem at all. I can understand why you would want to know."

"In that case... What exactly are Devil-Fruits? I've heard that term thrown around a lot today, but I don't understand." Zoro asked.

Naruto hummed in thought before answering, "Well. Devil-Fruits are Fruits that are supposedly cursed by the sea itself. Eating one is said to give you 'Devil' powers, hence the name." Zoro nodded in understanding. "It comes with a price though. Any Devil-Fruit user gets cursed by the sea. Forever taking away their ability to swim."

Zoro's eyes bugged out, "What?! None of you can swim?!"

Naruto blinked. Oh. Right. He'd forgotten to mention that little detail. "Yep! None of us can swim. We sink like rocks! So if we go overboard you are now the only person responsible with saving our lives." He said cheerfully.

"Yay~!" Lufia added, "We have a Lifeguard now!" She cheered pumping a fist in the air.

Zoro sank into his seat, "Give me a break..."

"Yugito, how long until we reach the next town?"

"About half an hour." She replied without looking back at them.

Lufia's stomach growled.

"Didn't you just eat that bag of food Ririku made for you?" Zoro asked with an incredulous expression.

She scratched her cheek, "Shishishi, I can't help it."

She leaned back in her seat, resting her head against the backrest.

Her eyes caught something in the sky.

"Huh?"

"A... bird?" Zoro questioned.

"Let's eat it!" Lufia suggested, drooling slightly.

"Is food all you think about?!" He shouted.

She didn't even hear him, already crouching low on the deck.

Naruto watched with amusement, "How are you planning to get it down?" The bird was pretty high up, he was curious what her plan was.

She smirked and pushed off the deck with all the force she could muster. She launched herself high into the air, but only manged to make it about a quarter of the way up.

She threw her fist back, "Gum Gum... Pistol!" She fired her hand as hard as she could, and it easily flew the remaining distance to the bird.

"Ah. I see." Naruto said, his lips curled up in a smile as he realized what was about to happen.

Time seemed to slow as the next few events happened.

Lufia's arm shot just in front of the bird's beak.

The bird was several times large than anyone had anticipated.

The bird flew forward, and clamped its beak around her arm without mercy.

Lufia blinked. Pain entered her arm.

"OOOUUUUCCCHHH!"

The bird continued its flight.

Lufia's arm ran out of slack, and she was ruthlessly tugged along behind the bird by her own arm.

"Aaaahhh! Help meeee!" She screamed helplessly as she dangled beneath the bird.

"You dumbass!" Zoro shouted.

"Oh dear," Naruto commented, somehow finding the situation horribly amusing.

"Shit," Yugito swore under her breath as she blasted the ship to full power, intent on chasing down their run-away Captain.

* * *

Nami ran across the streets of the ghost town as fast as her legs could carry her. Despite the desperate situation, she was incredibly pleased with herself. "I finally got it! The chart of the Grand Line!" She huffed as she rounded another corner. She had stolen the chart successfully, and now she was making her getaway.

There just one little problem.

"Get back here!"

"Give that chart back! You damn sneak thief!"

"Slow down!"

The three mean-looking pirates shouted as they chased her down. She could hear the sounds of footfalls on cobblestone growing louder, and she knew they were gaining on her. She really needed to work out more, she was running out of breath rapidly.

A loud cannon blast took their attention, and all four people froze in their tracks at the sound of screaming.

Nami looked up, her dangerous situation forgotten for the moment as she searched for the source of the noise. She watched with wide eyes as a strange young girl fell from the sky above her.

"AAAAHHHH!"

Crash!

Nami winced as the girl hit the pavement, her face growing green. Her heart went out to the poor girl, she was likely targetted by the local pirate crew. She was just unlucky.

Coughing caught her attention just before she turned to leave, and her head snapped back to the crash site with growing disbelief. A figure appeared through the smoke, climbing to its feet.

"Who the hell just shoots cannonballs at someone like that?" A feminine voice griped as a young girl appeared from the scattered dust.

She was a tall, busty girl with messy-black hair. Wearing nothing more than a red bikini top and a simple pair of blue shorts. She was wiping the dust off a straw hat in her hand, and she placed it back on her head with a laugh. "Phew... At least I'm safe now. Man, that was a pretty neat experience I had." She blinked as she looked at Nami, then at the pirates, then back at Nami.

"Hi!" She said innocently.

_'You idiot! Get out of here! Can't you see those are pirates?!'_ Nami screamed into her mind, desperately hoping the young girl would run off before the pirates got a chance to capture them. She never intended to make another girl take the fall for her crime.

"Heheh, look at what we've got here boys."

"You lost girly?"

"We can help you."

The pirates' faces grew lecherous as they slowly spread out around the black-haired girl.

"Huh?" Lufia turned to them, "Who're you?"

"They're pirates!" The orange haired girl behind her hissed, "We need to run!"

"Why?" Lufia questioned.

Nami stuttered in disbelief, was she really this dense? "Becaus-"

She had no chance to finish her sentence as the three pirates rushed them.

"Huh?" Lufia looked back just as the three men descended upon her with sabers drawn.

She frowned and raised her fists.

A moment later and the three men were indented into the wall of a nearby building, broken swords scattered at their feet. "You shouldn't wave those things around... Someone could get hurt." She scolded the unconscious men.

Nami was frozen in shock. She had seen the men dive at them, ready to cut them down, and then... movement... and they were beaten! What just happened?!

Lufia fell her knees, her stomach growling angrily at her, "Haaah... I'm so hungry..."

Nami looked down at her speculatively. The girl _did_ just save her from those pirates. "How about I make you some food?"

The girl shot to her feet, looking at Nami as if she had just revealed the secret to life, "Really?!"

Nami stepped back, not sure how to handle the excited girl, "Y-Yeah..."

* * *

A while later, after some brief introductions, Nami had shown them into an empty house, and prepared a quick meal for Lufia.

"Yummy~!" Lufia said happily as she ate the sandwich. Picking up a bread roll, she turned to the orange haired girl, "Do you live alone in this house?"

The girl shook her head, "I'm not from this town."

Lufia paused as she was about to take a bite out of the roll. She didn't live here? So this food wasn't hers? That meant she was stealing... Lufia shrugged and took a large chunk out of the roll. She was a pirate! And that meant she could take all the food she wanted!

"Everyone in the town ran off because of Buggy. The local pirate captain." She explained.

"Oh. So, you're just a sneak thief?" Lufia asked.

"How rude! I'm a Pirate Thief! I only steal from pirates!" She claimed, "Don't compare me to petty, scumbag, thieves."

"So this is a pirate's house?" Lufia looked around curiously, it didn't look like one to her. Where was all of the swords, and skulls, and gold? She paused in thought... Why would a pirate have a house on land?

Nami opened her mouth to retort, but had no response. She didn't know who it belonged to, but she stole from it anyway. That thought made her heart clench. "My goal is to earn one hundred million Bellies, no matter what it takes. Even if I have to steal to do it..."

"That's a lot of money. What could you even use that much for?" Lufia asked as she continued her meal. She would use it to buy a Pirate Ship, but she didn't think that was what Nami was planning for. She didn't seem to like pirates very much.

"It's a secret!" Nami said as she clutched the chart she had stolen, "But with a sea chart of the Grand Line, it's a real possibility!"

The statement caught Lufia's attention, "Sea chart? Are you a navigator?!"

Nami's face lit up with a smile, the first real one she had given since they met, Lufia noticed.

"I'm the best navigator in the world!" She proclaimed proudly.

Lufia smiled back happy to find another crew-mate. "Ooohhh, that's perfect! Do you want to be our navigator?"

Her smile grew strained, "Really?" Nami asked with fake enthusiasm.

Lufia pretended not to notice, and raised her arms in excitement, "Yeah! A new addition to our pirate crew!" She cheered.

The fake smile on her face dropped, and she gave a dark glare to Lufia, "No." She refused to join the crew. She looked at the girl with suspicion, "Are you really a pirate?" She found it hard to believe a girl who acted so innocent was really a pirate. She was good at reading people, she had to be to steal as well as she did, and she couldn't find the slightest bit of deception coming from the black-haired girl.

She smiled, and pulled the straw hat off her head, gazing at it with a fond memory. "Yeah. I promised the man who gave me this hat, that I would return it one day. When I gathered a pirate crew powerful enough to surpass him."

Nami slammed her hands on the table loudly, "That's ridiculous. There's nothing I hate more in this world than pirates. All pirates are scum!" She nearly shouted at the other girl.

Nami froze as Lufia looked away from her hat and turned her eyes to meet Nami's. She was glaring harshly, drilling a hole through Nami with her gaze. Gone was the cheerful oblivious girl she had seen just a moment ago, and in her place was the face of an angry pirate captain. Nami realized too late that she had just made a mistake, and found herself shrinking under the intense stare of the young woman.

"Pirates are scum?" Lufia said, her voice deceptively calm. "I'm sorry..." She apologized.

Nami's face flooded with relief, but she stiffened again as Lufia hardened her gaze, "...I'm sorry to learn that you are so _naive_." Lufia, said angered that the orange haired girl had not only insulted her and her crew, but her greatest treasure, and her dream.

Nami gained a bit of her bluster back, and went to retort, but her words caught in her throat at the icy look Lufia was giving her.

Lufia eyes dropped to her hat, and she took a deep breath and launched into her tale, hoping it would connect with the orange haired girl. "When I was only seven years old... a massive Pirate Ship arrived at my home village. I was excited at the time, I admired the freedom that a pirate's life granted someone, so I stole aboard their ship, hoping to sail away with them. They caught me easily, I was never very good at being quiet." She chuckled sheepishly.

"But the captain of the ship just laughed it off. He didn't hurt or even scold me for climbing aboard... Instead, he took me to the local bar and bought me a meal, telling me stories of life as a pirate on the condition that I didn't try it again." She sighed as the good memories of her time with Shanks' crew resurfaced. She missed them, and hoped to meet them again soon.

Nami listened to the story carefully. Normally, she would've dismissed anything that a pirate said... But the look in Lufia's eyes said that the story meant the world to her, and Nami found herself unable to turn away.

"Then... One day, I pissed off a group of Mountain Bandits, they were trashing the bar of a good friend of mine, so I tried to stop them. I was only _seven_." Nami's eyes widened in horror as she listened. "They were _real scum_. They beat me down mercilessly, laughing all the while. Shanks, the pirate captain, showed up and dealt with the bandits easily, putting his life on the line for a seven-year-old girl he had just met... Unfortunately, the leader slipped away by carrying me hostage, and rowed us out to sea. He threw me overboard, stating he 'No longer had a use for me' and left me to drown. Then a Sea King showed up, killing the man right in front of me..." She said darkly.

Nami covered her mouth with one of her hands and quickly sat down, growing sick from the story. Her eyes were misty, and held much less hatred than they did before.

Lufia met Nami's eyes again, no longer glaring, but her eyes still shone with intensity. "I'm sure you can imagine how scared I felt. I was injured, beaten, drowning, and I had just watched a grown man get ripped to pieces by a massive Sea monster. I was terrified, and the Sea King turned to me... I was going to die..."

"... I was going to die just because I had made a stupid mistake and let a group of _scum_ rile me up... But then, Shanks appeared again. To this day I still don't know how he did it... In an instant he was by my side in the water, saving me from the Sea King's mouth... But not before he lost his arm to the monster. He had sacrificed his arm... For me. "

Lufia took another deep breath, in a vain attempt to stop her trembling voice, she didn't bother to stop the tears falling down her face. "And then... do you know what he said to me?" She asked, not expecting an answer but she saw Nami shake her head anyway, "He said, 'It's okay Lufia... It's just an arm... _I've got another one_.'"

"After giving so much, just for me. I _swore_ that day that I would be a pirate just like him. That I would sail the seas how I pleased, gathering a group of people I could _truly_ call my friends. As he left the town for good, I told him I would surpass him one day. He smiled down at me and placed his hat, his most precious possession, on my head. And then he was gone. Leaving the village without asking for a single thing in return."

She stared into Nami's eyes with a powerful, testing gaze. "Can you honestly tell me, after hearing that, that all pirates are scum?"

She couldn't answer that. How could she? She was busy dealing with her rampant emotions. She felt like everything she knew had just been turned on its head. If pirates like that existed, ones that would go out of their way to save people, then why did Arlong have to be the one to land on her island? Was it just rotten luck? Fate's cruel joke on the world? One that made her life as miserable as possible?

"Hey," Lufia called out as she placed her hat back on her head. She sent a beautiful smile at Nami, her previous anger vanishing in an instant, "Join my crew. I can tell you despise pirates for some reason, but we _aren't scum_. My crew are all my closest friends. My _family_. We are going to travel the entire world. Seeing everything it has to offer. I know it will be a lot of fun, and I'd like you to be with us."

Nami paused in silent consideration. A part of her still screamed that it was hopeless, that she would just drag her new friend into the horrible mess that was her life. The part of her that was still trapped underneath the hand of Arlong, forced to make maps for him with a smile, thinking that she would save enough money and purchase her village from Arlong, forever escaping his tyranny. That part of her, she realized... was naive.

Another part of her mercilessly crushed what little faith she put in the fish-man pirates. Arlong wasn't a pirate that would put his life on the line for a seven-year-old girl. He wasn't a pirate that would sacrifice an arm to save someone. He wasn't a pirate who would give something so valuable, so _precious_, to a simple child. He was _scum_. And she found herself questioning why she had believed him in the first place. Then it hit her. She was naive. Lufia had proven that. Naive enough to believe that the man who had killed so many villagers, the man who had killed her adoptive _mother_, would uphold his end of the deal.

The epiphany was followed by a wave of heart-clenching despair. All her work was _useless_. All of her years of clinging to hope was _pointless_. She had ostracized herself from her own village, _for nothing_.

She couldn't contain it anymore. She buried her face in her hands and _cried_. She broke down as the flood gates opened, and all of the emotion she had been trying so very hard to keep buried came crashing out. For the first time in what felt like ages, Nami let her emotions loose.

She sat there for who knows how long, sobbing to herself in the house she had carelessly broken into. Until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She nearly jumped in shock, momentarily forgetting she wasn't alone, and looked up into the eyes of a concerned Lufia.

Lufia wasn't sure why Nami had started crying, but immediately wanted to comfort her. Nami was going to be her Navigator. She had already decided. She wasn't very good at this kind of thing, so tried to copy the way Makino would comfort her when she was sad. She leaned down and gave Nami a gentle hug, rubbing circles into her back as she shook with sobs. She latched onto Lufia tightly, desperate for contact as she let herself go.

After she finally calmed down a little, Lufia heard a timid voice underneath her, "Lufia... I want to make a map."

"A map?"

Nami nodded at Lufia's question, and steeled her resolve. She was going to be free of Arlong, no longer would she let him control her choices. And this was the first choice she was going to make. "A map of the entire world! It has been my dream to draw a map of the entire world, it has been since I was a child." Nami managed to say proudly, through her choked voice. She met Lufia's eyes with tear-stained cheeks, "...D-Do you think I can do it?" She asked, her confidence slipping as her fear of rejection pushed to the surface.

The blinding smile Lufia sent her washed away her fears easily. "Of course you can! I'll help you as best I can! Our crew is heading to the Grand Line. If I'm going to be the Queen of the Pirates, I'll need my Navigator to help me find my way there."

She brightened up at her words, internally pleased at the way she had referred to her as if she was already part of the crew. She wiped her eyes as best she could, and gave Lufia a smile in return, a real smile, "Of course... Captain."

Lufia's smile grew wider, if it was even possible, "Does this mean you are going to join?!"

She barely had the time to nod before she was scooped up in a bone-crushing hug.

"Alright! We got a new crew member! I can't wait to introduce you to the rest of the crew! You'll love them all I promise!"

She stiffened, slightly worried about meeting a group of pirates. She trusted Lufia now, but she didn't know if she could bring herself to trust a full group of strangers. "How many members do we have?"

"Including you, five! Don't underestimate us though, each member is crazy strong."

That was... surprisingly small. It filled her with a bit of relief, now she only had three other people to worry about, but a new sense of desire rose within her. "Hey, Lufia...Do you think...you could help me become strong?"

She was weak. It was made blatantly clear on Alvida's ship, and once again today. She had been chased halfway across a town by three _grunts_. Grunts that Lufia struck down faster than she could blink. It made her see just how weak she was, how _vulnerable_ she was.

She would never feel like that again. She promised herself.

"Of course! We can train together, it'll be fun!" Lufia said cheerfully, happy her newest member was going to be training with her. "Now let's go find the crew! I got a bit separated from them earlier, but we should be able to find them easy enough. They should've made it to the island by now." She finished her food in a quick pace, and walked to the door, turning to wait for her new Navigator.

Nami flashed the biggest smile she had in years, and followed after her new Captain. Her new friend.

She felt like she was walking on air. The revelations she made today would help her become stronger than she ever anticipated. She had been crushed, but after the tears dried, she felt a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. No longer would she carry her burdens alone, she had a friend to help her with the weight. And Lufia was _very_ strong.

* * *

"We're here. The bird flew just over this town." Yugito said as they quickly slid into a local port. "Orange Town."

"Homebase of the Buggy Pirates," Naruto added, tying the ship down while they climbed out of Hunter. He recalled the information from a few of the files he had slipped from Morgan's office. Buggy was on a small hit-list he was compiling of bounties he wanted to hunt down on their way to the Grand Line. They needed money, desperately, if they truly wanted to make the journey. Especially if they needed to pay for a ship.

"Buggy?" Zoro asked.

"Buggy the Clown, the Captain of the Buggy Pirates. Rumor says that even though his crew are all dressed like the circus came to town, they are pretty nasty pirates. It's good that we bumped into them, I was planning to hunt him down before we made our way to the Grand Line anyway." Naruto explained.

"Why?"

"Buggy's head is worth fifteen million, swordsman. We could use the extra cash." Naruto replied. He turned to Zoro with a cheeky grin, "How 'bout it? Feel like showing us how it's done 'Pirate Hunter'?"

Zoro scoffed and shook his head, "I never called myself a bounty hunter, and I'm not going to start now. I only brought in bounties to earn money. Plus, I gave it up to join you guys it seems pointless to start again."

Naruto pouted, "Even if the crew needs the money?"

Zoro didn't budge, and just let out a sigh as he started walking down the pier, "Just capture him yourself then."

Naruto sighed but let it drop. He had read about Buggy's Devil Fruit, he supposed it was probably for the best if Zoro didn't fight him. He wasn't sure if the swordsman could find a way to cut the clown.

**BOOOOOM!**

The entire town flashed with yellow light as a massive, thunderous, explosion took out a large row of buildings on the other side of the island.

"What the hell?!" Naruto yelled as the pier shook from the force.

"An explosion?" Yugito asked, wincing as the sound hit her sensitive ears.

"Sounded like a cannon. A big one." Zoro commented.

They hurried into the town, searching for their run-away Captain. Knowing Lufia, she would either already be involved, or looking to find out what made the explosion. They noticed the town itself was completely silent. Not a single person in sight. As they made their way through the streets, the only signs of life they caught were some light and music coming from the center of the town. It sounded like someone was having a party.

Luckily for them, they didn't have to search long. Just shortly into the city, a familiar voice called out.

"Naruto!"

He spun around just in time to catch a flying tackle from their missing Captain. He stumbled back as she latched onto him, and he wrapped his arms around her to steady himself. "Woah! Hey, Lufia. We were just looking for you." He said with amusement.

She looked up at him with sparkling eyes, "Guess what? Guess what? We have a Navigator now!"

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? You recruited someone in this ghost town?" He was impressed. Both that she managed to find someone in such an abandoned town, and she managed to convince them to join her pirate crew, even though the town was being terrorized by a pirate crew.

"Yep!" She turned around and waved over her new member, "Meet Nami! She's going to make a map of the world!"

Naruto followed her line of sight to see an orange haired girl moving to catch up to them. The now named Nami met his eyes and froze in her step.

He blinked.

She blinked.

"The Pirate Thief!" He shouted and pointed at her.

"The Courier?!" She shouted and pointed back.

"Huh?" Lufia looked between them with confusion, "You two know each other already?"

"Yeah..." Naruto said as he got over the shock, "We met briefly when you were fighting Alvida, and again in Shells town." He decided not to mention that he had met her inside Captain Morgan's office. Where he had been stealing files from the desk.

"I'm surprised," Naruto said as he looked at Nami, "I didn't think a 'Pirate Thief' would join Lufia. Didn't you have a problem with pirates? What changed?"

"My name is Nami." She insisted, getting irritated at her old title, "As for why I joined..." She glanced at Lufia and dropped her eyes, looking at the ground in embarrassment.

"Ah." Naruto nodded sagely, "She snagged you too, huh? I understand. It's a pleasure to finally learn your name, Nami, my name is Uzumaki D. Naruto." He offered his hand.

"What do you mean by 'too'?" She asked curiously as she shook. She wasn't sure what she felt about the blonde, she was happy to find someone she recognized, but was still nervous to be around him. But if Lufia said he was a good person... She'd give him a chance. He had saved her after all, and never really showed any hostility to her.

Zoro took the question as a queue to step forward and offer his own hand, "Roronoa Zoro." He introduced himself simply.

Nami stared at him with wide eyes, "The Pirate Hunter?!" She shook his hand dumbly, "What are you doing in a pirate crew?"

He gave a small smile and nodded at Lufia, "She's got a way with words."

Nami's eyes filled with understanding, she felt slightly happy that she wasn't the only victim to Lufia's charisma. She turned to the last member, another girl, surprisingly. Weren't pirate crews supposed to be filled with mean-looking men? Yet this one now had three girls and two men.

"My name is Yugtio." She introduced as they shook.

Nami smiled and introduced herself, feeling comfortable around another woman. She was older than the rest of the group, slightly, and had a more mature air around her. Hopefully, they would get along.

Another, smaller explosion rocked the town as they finished their introductions, and everyone turned their heads to the center of the town. They could hear the sounds of a party clearly now, and the pirates seemed to be celebrating the destruction of the buildings.

"Well, I suppose we should go stop him before he takes out the rest of the town," Naruto said.

"Hey!" Lufia's eyes widened with realization, "Those guys shot a cannonball at me!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah! I was flying over the town and they shot down the bird!" She said, irritated.

"How are you still alive?" Zoro said with a strange look. He had a feeling he was going to be seeing a lot of this kind of thing from his new Captain.

"Shishishi, I'm strong." She laughed, but her eyes turned to the town with a smirk, "But I'm gonna kick their asses for that!"

"Just leave the Captain alive," Naruto said.

"Huh? Why?"

He smiled, "Because then we can turn him in for treasure!"

Lufia's eyes lit up. "Really?! What's he look like?" She was already cracking her knuckles in preparation.

"You can't miss him. He's the one with the big red nose."

"Alright!" Lufia yelled and started to march off toward the town's center.

Amused, Naruto followed behind her, the rest of the crew trailing behind.

* * *

"Heeeeeey! Get out here big nose!" Lufia shouted at the band of pirates they could see partying on top of a large bar.

The party stopped as Lufia's voice managed to carry over the sounds of their celebration. The Buggy Pirates all froze in unison, the laughter died, the music stopped, and mugs of rum were dropped in shock.

The Buggy Pirate's jaws were on the ground as the slowly turned to their Captain in fear. Their Captain, Buggy, was dressed to resemble his epithet 'The Clown' with bright colors, and clown-like make-up. The most-attention grabbing thing would be the red and white striped shirt he wore, and the orange fur-lined Captain's coat hanging from his shoulders. His face was shadowed by his orange hat, but his lips were curled in an angry snarl as he heard the voice from below.

He stood up and stomped over to the railing of the rooftop, glaring down at the group of five standing in the street. He brandished his eight knives between his fingers menacingly, "...What was that?! _Who_ has a big nose?" He said in a dangerous tone.

"You do!" Lufia chirped, completely disregarding the furious expression, "It's a big red eyesore!"

Silence filled the street, with the only sound being the sharp intakes of breath from Buggy's crew, as they fearfully waited for their Captain to explode. They didn't dare move, thinking that the slightest disturbance would set him off.

A vein popped on Buggy's brow, and he shrieked with anger, "KILL THEM! FIRE THE BUGGY BALL!"

Zoro slapped his face. "Are you trying to get us killed?!"

Nami stiffened, her eyes wide with fear as the pirates rolled out a large cannon. _'Is she an idiot!?'_ She mentally screamed,_ 'No matter how strong she is, we'll all die if they shoot at us!' _Her body started to tremble as the threat of death became real. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see the reassuring gaze of Yugtio.

"It's okay." The woman said quietly, having noticed her fear, "That cannon won't hurt us." She said with conviction, and Nami could see she meant it.

Lufia smirked as they prepared a cannonball, she was going to have fun with this.

Naruto stood beside her with a small grin, "That's certainly one way to get his attention." The blonde commented. "You have a plan? He looks ready to kill us."

Lufia nodded and settled into a stance, planting her feet firmly. "I've got this." She placed her left hand on her hat and let her right arm hang by her side, she watched them load the cannon carefully.

"You idiot!" Zoro said, "Get out of the way! You're gonna get hit!"

She sent him a big grin, "Don't worry so much Zoro! That measly cannonball's not gonna work on me!"

"Fire!" Buggy screamed.

The cannon exploded, firing a large red ball, with a Jolly Roger painted on the side, directly at Lufia.

She smirked, _'I gotta thank Gramps for this move.' _She braced herself and let the ball fly toward her, as it got closer, she threw out her right hand, catching the ball in her palm.

"Gum gum..."

The ball continued its course, and her arm stretched along with it as it flew past her. The Buggy Ball slowly lost momentum until it finally reached a stop, her arm stretched almost to its limit.

"Wha-?!" Zoro gasped in shock as he watched the whole thing.

"No way!" Nami cried, seeing Lufia's Devil-Fruit powers in action for the first time.

Naruto's grin stretched across his face as he saw the plan, and couldn't contain a loud laugh.

Yugito giggled to his side, her own grin predatory as she waited for the Buggy Pirates to get a little taste of their own medicine.

"...Slingshot!" Lufia declared proudly, letting her arm rubber-band back to her, bringing the powerful explosive along with it. She threw the ball powerfully, aiming at the center of the building the Pirate Crew was standing on top of. She didn't want to kill them. Naruto had wanted the Captain alive.

"She sent it back!" The pirates barely had time to cry out as the building beneath them was quickly struck by the cannonball, exploding in a large shower of wood and debris. The pirates screamed in panic as the roof caved in, sending them crashing down two floors of the building.

"Nice one Lufia!" Naruto complimented. He looked at the large dust cloud surrounding the wooden building and scratched his chin in thought._ 'Hopefully the clown is still alive... I was serious about that bounty.' _

Nami slunk to her knees as the Inn collapsed, her mind struggling to comprehend what just happened. "Wha...What are you?"

Lufia gave her another beautiful smile, and hooked a finger in her mouth, "I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit!" She pulled, stretching her cheek out in demonstration, "I'm a rubber woman!"

_'Rubber woman? Devil-Fruit?'_ She didn't have any time to question the girl further, as the sound of wooden debris moving caught their attention.

"You bastards have got _some_ nerve..." The voice of Buggy caught their attention.

The dust cleared up enough to see the clown and a few of his crew members pushing themselves out of the debris. The explosion hadn't messed them up too badly, but they had obvious burns and cuts on their bodies.

"I'm so mad... I can't even speak..." Buggy said, his voice trembling with rage.

"Cap'n!" The voice of one of Buggy's crew spoke up beside him. He was dressed just as flamboyant as his Captain, with a blue coat, sleeves ripped out, and a ridiculously long checkered scarf wrapped around his neck and nearly reaching the ground. "This is the worst disgrace we've suffered since you formed our crew."

Buggy growled in agreement and the scarf wearing man stepped forward, "Leave'em to me, sir." He raised his hand to his mouth and opened wide. The spectators watched in disgust as he pulled a sword out of his mouth.

As he stepped forward, the crew regained some of their lost bluster and started to cheer him on.

"It's the second mate! Cabaji the Acrobat!"

"Aye! Go get'm Cabaji!"

Cabaji looked clearly smug under the cheers of his crewmates, and sent them a superior look, "It's been a while..." He flipped backward, landing on a unicycle the crew had produced for him and balanced on it carefully, brandishing his sword at them, "I don't want to get rusty."

He shot forward, not even waiting for his Captain's orders, and cycled over to them at a quick pace. He targeted Lufia, and lunged forward on his cycle, intent to run her through with his sword.

The sound of clashing steel resounded as Zoro moved in front of her, blocking the strike with his own sword. The green-haired swordsman looked at his new opponent in distaste, "You fancy yourself a swordsman, circus freak? I'll show you some _real_ swordplay."

Zoro effortlessly pushed the man back, and his opponent growled as he tried to keep his balance on his unicycle. Zoro put his sword in his mouth and slipped his bandanna off his shoulder, wrapping the black cloth around his head as he prepared for a fight.

"Leave him to me Cap'n," Zoro mimicked Cabaji's words as he drew his other two swords, "This won't take long..."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**Question** for you guys: What should I do about The Going Merry? With an expanded crew, they'd need a bigger ship as well. And the ship needs to be at least big enough to store Hunter aboard, which would make it significantly larger than The Going Merry. So, should I just have The Going Merry expanded, with extra rooms and features, or should I use a different ship?

On that note, what do you guys think about the crew's Jolly Roger? Should they still be the 'Straw Hat Pirates' or should I make up a different name for them?

I was thinking about something 'Royal' themed because they are going to be the King and Queen. Something like 'Pirate Princess Lufia' and 'Pirate Prince Naruto' but I'm curious what you guys think.

Nami – I rushed her relationship with Lufia a bit, but I felt it was appropriate. I feel that if Luffy was a girl in Canon, Nami would find it much harder to betray her, and bond with her much faster, especially since Luffy acts so oblivious. As for why Lufia gave her little story, I didn't like how Nami openly insults pirates and Canon Luffy just brushes it off. He gets mad at everyone else in the story, men and women alike, when they insult his dream or touch his hat, so I didn't like how he brushed it off when Nami insulted it.

Lufia – She's pretty perceptive in this Chapter, but I think that's appropriate. In Canon, Luffy catches little things, despite his cheerful demeanor, like that final scene with Coby or how he noticed something was weird when he first met Blackbeard. Having Luffy as Lufia, a girl, I feel the need to make this perception a bit more apparent. She's still going to _act_ oblivious, because she thinks it's more fun that way.


	4. The Liar

Chapter Four: The Liar

"The Breath of Death!"

Zoro growled as he ducked under the fire breath of the so-called 'Swordsman'. The guy was a real circus freak, cheap tricks and all.

Cabaji took the chance to launch a kick at Zoro's side with his pointed boot but stopped his attack as he saw Zoro raise a sword to block.

Buggy's second mate jumped back with a smirk, "I call my next circus trick... Murder at the Steam Bath!"

Zoro watched with disinterest as the Acrobat did a flashy spin of his sword to kick up a cloud of dust around himself. He blocked as his opponent lunged out of the cloud in a direct attack with his sword.

Zoro deflected the blade, and struck back with his own, landing a shallow cut on the chest of the Acrobat.

"Now you'll taste my greatest circus tricks!" Cabaji shouted as he flipped open his coat with a flourish, "Dance of 100 Kamikaze Tops!" He cried as dozens of tops were launched at Zoro, each one spinning rapidly as they traveled toward him.

Zoro grunted and cut one down, which caused it to explode like a firecracker in the air. He growled as the rest grew near and settled into his sword stance, quickly cutting through the tops at a rapid pace, not letting a single one touch him.

* * *

"This guy is a freakshow." Naruto commented as they watched the small 'duel'. He was pouting slightly, as he had hoped to see a real swordsman's duel. Not... whatever this was.

"It's disappointing," Yugito agreed, "The 'Acrobat' must know he can't possibly match Zoro in swordsmanship if he resorts to such cheap tricks."

"Shishishi, I think it's pretty cool." Lufia giggled, watching the Acrobat like she would a circus performance, rather than an actual fight. Zoro's opponent was pretty funny to watch. Boasting about how he was going to defeat the famous 'Pirate Hunter' while ignoring the fact that he was a grown man riding around on a unicycle.

Nami was watching the fight with growing disbelief. Her mind was still trying to comprehend the 'Devil Fruit' user beside her, and the fight between the two men wasn't helping. "Those guys are insane..." She muttered as she watched them move and fight at a fast pace. She almost had trouble keeping up, "There's no way I could do that..."

"Then don't."

"Eh?" She looked to the side in confusion as she heard a voice respond. She hadn't noticed she was speaking out loud.

Naruto gave her a small smile and turned back to the fight. "_'If you can't do something. Then don't. Instead, focus on what you __**can do**__'_ It's something my Old Man used to say."

She turned back to the fight with a speculative look._ 'What I can do...' _Her eyes looked over a small building behind the Inn and a brief memory flashed through her mind. She remembered the three grunts from before had mentioned a place that Buggy's treasure had been stored... A wicked gleam re-entered her eyes. She wasn't a Thief anymore, but she was a _pirate_ now right? Pirates steal too.

She tapped Lufia on the shoulder, "Hey."

"Huh?"

"I heard that there's a building behind the Inn that they use to store Buggy's treasure... I'm gonna go steal it." She said with a small smirk. If there was one thing _could_ do... It was stealing from pirates.

Before Lufia could even respond Naruto burst out in laughter. "Hahaha! I knew I liked you for a reason! Stealing his treasure _and_ taking his bounty. That's perfect!"

Nami gave a smile in response. It felt good when other people approved of her actions for once.

Lufia nodded sagely, "I completely agree. A brilliant plan."

Naruto snorted, "You were sold on the word 'Treasure' weren't you?"

Lufia turned to him with a pout, "But we're _pirates!_ We're supposed to have treasure!"

Nami started to step away from the group giving a quick wave, "Then I'm off. Good luck!"

"Wait." The voice of Naruto stopped her in her tracks, "Why don't you take Yugito with you?" He wasn't entirely sure why he had called out to Nami. Just a gut instinct. The memory of the _last_ time Nami tried to steal from pirates flashed through his mind, and he'd feel more comfortable with Yugito along with her.

"Me?" Yugito looked surprised.

Naruto sent her a glance and a shrug, "You aren't really doing anything right now, right? Would you mind going with Nami?"

Yugito looked at him for a moment and then shook her head. She didn't really care. These circus freaks didn't really interest her much.

Nami and Yugito shared a glance. "Not that I'm complaining..." She said carefully, not wanting to insult Yugito by mistake. "But why? I'm perfectly capable of stealing the treasure myself."

Naruto sent her a pointed look, "Just as you were perfectly capable of stealing from Alivda?" He saw her wince and continued, "Buggy's bounty is much higher than Alvida's. Three times, in fact. The general rule is 'The higher the Bounty; The stronger the Pirate'. So you could assume that Buggy, is at _least_ three times stronger than Alvida."

Nami blanched as she remembered her last slip-up in Alvida's cargo hold. She nodded at Naruto, "Right. Sorry. Please come with me Yugito. We'll slip around back, while they are distracted."

The Cat-Woman shrugged and followed Nami as they slipped between the buildings.

"Are they going to be okay?" Lufia asked. She hadn't really understood most of that conversation, but she sensed something was intentionally being left unsaid. Naruto had a look of small worry in his eye.

He smiled at her, "They'll be fine. Yugito is really strong."

Lufia accepted her partner's words and turned back to the fight.

* * *

Zoro watched from the corner of his eye as the Acrobat rode his Unicycle to the wall of a tall building, and frowned. The tops were just a distraction.

"Circus Trick: A Hike in the Mountains!"

"Do you really need to call that one out?" Zoro grumbled as he watched the man cycle up the side of the wall.

"Circus Trick: Fireworks in the Cool Summer Breeze!"

The Acrobat launched himself into the air with another technique name, and flew just above the Swordsman. He placed his sword straight down, aiming at Zoro, "And finally... Circus Trick: Sting of the Unicycle!"

Zoro braced to dodge.

"Low Flying Chop Chop Cannon!" Buggy shouted as he finally got sick of watching. His hand broke off his arm and flew at Zoro, "Cabaji! I'll hold Zoro down! You finish him off!"

"With pleasure!" The Acrobat responded as he started his descent.

"Shit!" Zoro swore under his breath.

Buggy's hand flew forward as he tried to grab at Zoro. It was brought crashing to the ground as Lufia appeared, pinning the hand under her foot with a powerful stomp. She looked up with a smirk, "Big Nose! Keep your hands off Zoro's duel!"

Buggy let out a wail of pain as Lufia ruthlessly crushed his fingers underfoot.

_'Lufia...'_ Zoro let out a small chuckle as Lufia saved him.

"Die!"

He ducked to the side as Cabaji descended, dodging the strike as the Acrobat hit the ground. Zoro turned to him with a glare. "I've had enough... of those stupid circus tricks!" He rushed forward and slashed at Cabaji's unicycle, forcing the Acrobat to hop off.

"Fine! I'll finish you with my real swordsmanship!" The man declared as he lunged at Zoro, preparing a strike.

Zoro didn't even acknowledge the words, and crossed his arms as he prepared one of his main techniques. "Oni..."

In a flash of steel and blood, Zoro was past Cabaji, and the man had a crisscrossing gash on his chest, "...Giri!

"I-Impossible..." The Acrobat muttered as he collapsed, fainting from the pain.

"CABAJI!" Buggy screamed as his second mate was ruthlessly cut down.

* * *

Naruto whistled as Cabaji hit the ground. That was a pretty awesome sword technique. Very quick.

Lufia had gone forward, presumably to kick Buggy's ass, so he was left to watch the fights by himself. Maybe he'd join in if he felt like it.

"Well well... What do we have here?"

Naruto turned to see a strange looking man... riding on the head of a massive lion.

The man looked over at the fight and his eyes widened as he saw Cabaji on the ground, in a pool of blood.

"Wha-!? Cabaji?! He was defeated?! Impossible!" He turned to Naruto with a murderous glare, "Was this _your_ doing!?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Well _technically_ that was Zoro... But he's a member of my crew so I guess I'm partially responsible."

The man and lion both gave him dark looks. "Do you know who I am?"

"Well, not rea-"

"I'm Mohji." The man introduced before Naruto could respond, "I'm Buggy's, first mate! They call me the Lion Tamer."

"Oh?" Naruto looked him over carefully with a fox-like squint. "You don't look stronger than that cabbage guy, and Zoro kicked his ass with ease. You sure you're really the first mate?"

"Of course I am!" He shouted down at the blonde. The lion let out a low warning growl from beneath him.

"Oh..." Naruto frowned at the lion. He guessed that was the real reason the man was 'First mate'. The lion probably fought all of his battles for him. How annoying.

Well, Naruto could at least have a little fun with this guy. Naruto concealed a smirk and looked up at the weird man. "I understand the whole 'circus' theme, but don't you think you're overdoing it with that weird bear costume?"

"COSTUME?! This is my hair!"

"That just makes it worse."

"Shut up!" Mohji shouted, "Richie! Kill him!"

The lion looked at Naruto with a long stare. Then he moved forward slightly, bringing his head just in front of the blonde. Naruto watched the lion with interest as it gave him a few testing sniffs before backing off with a small whimper. Naruto smirked widely.

"Richie!?" Mohji looked down at his mount with irritation, "I said kill him!"

The lion shook his head rapidly and laid down on the ground, hiding his face with his paws. He let out a low whine.

"Richie?! What's gotten into you?"

A soft chuckle brought Mohji's attention to Naruto who looked up to meet his eyes. "I think you might be in over your head here," Naruto said, as he started his Devil-Fruit transformation. Eyes turned slitted red, nine long bushy fox tails slipped out of the gap in his orange robe, and six whisker marks appeared on his cheeks.

"What... What the hell are you?!" Mohji said as he saw the blonde transform. His mind made a connection, but he didn't want to believe it, "You... you ate a Devil-Fruit didn't you? Just like the Captain."

Naruto gave him a feral smirk, "That's right. You shouldn't blame your little kitten. He just knows when he's facing an Alpha Predator. It's not his fault. It's just instinct."

"Kitten?!" Mohji yelled in outrage, his anger pushing down any trepidation about the blonde, "Richie is the strongest lion in the world! Show him, Richie! This man can't hurt you!"

Naruto shook his head and approached the massive lion without fear. The lion tried to shrink back as he approached, but Naruto slid up to him before he could get any ideas about running.

A loud rumbling purr came from the lion's body as Naruto started scratching the beast behind the ear. Richie gave out a pleased noise as he found a sweet spot. You could say Naruto had a little experience dealing with 'cats'. Maybe he'd keep the lion. Give him to Yugito as a present or something. He was sure she'd be amused.

_'Although... I don't think he would fit on Hunter...'_ He pouted momentarily as he realized he couldn't actually keep Richie. _'We'd probably have trouble feeding him too. Who knows what this guy eats...' _

"What are you doing to Richie!? Stop that!" Mohji cried from his perch on the lion's back.

"No. I'm just petting him and he likes it."

"Impossible! I'm the only one who can get close to Richie! I'm the Lion Tamer! There's no animal that won't follow my commands! Richie, kill him already!"

Naruto frowned as Richie gave another weak whine, clearly torn between obeying his 'Tamer' and his instincts. "Richie." He said, catching the lion's attention. His lips curled into a small smirk, "Roll over on your side."

The lion looked confused, but did as the blonde said, flipping over on his side to expose his stomach... and throwing Mohji off in the process.

"Richie!" The Lion Tamer shouted, betrayed. He fell to the ground, landing on his back in surprise.

The lion didn't even hear him, too busy with pleased whines and loud purrs as Naruto gave him a belly rub.

"Who's a good kitten? You are~! Yes you are!" Naruto busted out the 'baby voice' as he gave the lion a belly rub. He snickered as Richie's leg started to kick into the air with pleasure.

Mohji was fuming. The blonde had questioned his skill, doubted his rank, mocked his pet lion, and even insulted his appearance! He was in a rage.

"How dare you?!" Naruto didn't even turn around as Mohji rushed at him, infuriated that the blonde had dismissed him so completely. One singular, yellow fox tail raised in a lazy manner, as Mohji lunged at him with a fist cocked.

A resounding smack echoed through the area as Mohji was lashed across the face with a deceptively powerful tail. He was knocked clear off his feet, flying back a solid ten meters before he crashed into the wall of a building. The wall cracked as he impacted it and he slid down in a slump, unconscious.

Naruto turned to look at the unconscious form of his 'opponent', slightly surprised, "Wait seriously? Just one hit? I figured you were weak but really? I didn't even hit you that hard! It was supposed to be a love tap!"

The lion let out a sad whimper beside him. He clearly wanted to assist his Master, but his instincts were screaming at him to stay down. Every fiber of his being was bowing in submission to the blonde. His senses felt as if the small human form was just a disguise for a fearsome monster.

Naruto shrugged and turned his attention back to the lion. "Stand up."

Richie obeyed, getting to his feet.

"Hup!" Naruto jumped up, landing on the lion's head. He sat down cross-legged, and pointed back to the Inn, "Onward! Let's go get a better view of the fight."

Richie let out another mewl and slowly walked toward the ruins of the Tavern. Leaving his Master behind.

* * *

"Stop right there!"

Nami and Yugito froze and turned to see a large group of circus-themed pirates aiming a large variety of weaponry at them. Swords, knives, maces, axes, they would have had the appearance of common thugs if not for the flashy colors and make-up.

"We saw you two slip away!"

"Thinkin' yer gonna steal our treasure?!"

"Damn," Nami cursed, "I thought the crew was unconscious..."

The pirates let out a small set of laughter, and one spoke up, "Unconscious? Just from a little fall like that one? We're the Buggy Pirates, we're much tougher than that."

A brave one stepped forward with a large saber in his hands, "You two ladies are out of luck... The penalty for stealing from Captain Buggy... Is death!" He rushed forward with his blade, swinging at Nami.

Nami stood frozen in shock as the blade came swinging down. Memories of her last experience flashed before her eyes, and she hesitated to move.

"Ugk!"

Suddenly, the pirate stopped in his tracks. He let out a pitiful wail before falling backward. As he landed on his back, the whole group could see four large slashes through his clothing, blood already seeping out of the wound.

"What the hell?!" Another pirate cried as he hit the ground.

Yugito stood protectively in front of the new Navigator, brandishing her hands threateningly. As the pirates looked her over they noticed, in place of her fingernails, were long razor-sharp claws, dripping with blood.

"Y-Yugito?" Nami looked at her in surprise. Both that the woman had protected her, and that she was now wielding fearsome-looking claws on her fingertips.

The blonde woman sent her a look, "Well? Are you just going to stand there all day, and leave these guys to me?"

Nami's first instinct was to say 'Yes' and let Yugito handle it. It was clear the woman had fighting experience. Before she could even open her mouth however, another memory flashed in her eyes. A positive one, this time.

_"Lufia...Do you think...You could help me become strong?" _

_"Of course!" _

Her new Captain hadn't had a single moment of hesitation. She looked at Nami as if it was such a simple thing 'to become strong'. Like she was certain Nami _would_ be strong. Now Yugito was sending her a look, expecting something from her, and for some reason, she didn't want to disappoint.

"No," Nami said, pulling up the side of her skirt to reveal a holster she had strapped to her thigh. She slipped out three long sections and quickly assembled her own weapon. A staff.

She pushed down whatever doubt she had in herself and twirled her staff around, pointing it at the pirates, "Leave some for me too."

Yugito let a cat-like smirk reach her lips and turned to their opponents, "I like your style."

The two girls stood together, facing the group of pirates without fear. The pirates exchanged looks, feeling slightly less confident facing the armed women. Their eyes were locked on the sharp claws of the older woman, fear seeping into their minds. They muttered amongst themselves, quietly.

"Hey... you don't think..."

"There's no way... Buggy's the only one around here..."

"Yeah but... Those claws..."

Yugito could hear them easily, "Something wrong boys?" She gave a Cheshire-grin, exposing her elongated canines, "You look like you've seen... A _Devil_."

A shiver went down the necks of the pirate crew.

Both women could see a wave of uncertainty pass through the group of pirates as Yugito's words set in. Before they could doubt themselves any further, a loud one spoke up.

"Come on boys! They're just two women! It doesn't matter if they have weapons, there's no way they can fight us! We're The Buggy Pirates!"

His words had the right effect, and the crew regained their confidence. Calls of agreement rushed through the crowd, and they all raised their weapons with renewed strength. With a loud cry, they charged.

Nami's heart was pounding in her chest as the first one dove at her. She grit her teeth and ducked to the side to avoid a sword swipe. She took the chance and swung her staff hard, cracking the man in the face. Surprisingly, he went down.

She stared at his collapsed form with shock. She had been expecting a much harder fight. She shook out of her stupor as she heard the next one approach and prepared herself to continue the fight.

Nami fought carefully, dodging attacks and waiting for openings to strike back. It took a while, but she was learning how to deal with the pirates. She struck down at least half a dozen without any serious injuries to herself. As she cracked another skull with her staff, she was feeling pretty good about herself. These guys were weak.

She flicked her eyes over to her companion and quickly found herself staring, awe-struck. Yugito was _much_ better than she realized. The woman was effortlessly taking on dozens of men at a time, gracefully stepping between blades with ease, and slicing down her opponents without mercy. The woman moved with almost supernatural grace, displaying a great amount of flexibility as she bent, spun, and flipped through the pirates' attacks, responding with her own powerful slashes.

The woman's expression was stoic, only letting a small wicked smile appear every now and then as she struck down a pirate in a particularly vicious manner. Nami's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she watched her crewmate tear through the ranks of The Buggy Pirates. That... was something she _couldn't_ do.

The war-cry of a pirate snapped her attention back to her own fight.

"Shit!" She cursed under her breath as she ducked under a sword. She had been caught staring. That was a stupid thing to do. Luckily, her new position provided her with a target, and she ruthlessly swung up with her staff. Striking the man between the legs. The man went down with a whimper.

Nami buried any surprise and tore her eyes away from Yugito. She was sure the woman would be just fine. She needed to focus on her own battle.

A few minutes later and Nami had her hands on her knees, huffing as she tried to regain her breath. She did her best to slow her rapid heartbeat, coming down from the adrenaline.

"Not bad." Nami looked up to see Yugito's approving gaze. The older woman's eyes swept over the bodies of a dozen unconscious men, scattered around Nami. She offered a smirk, "You're pretty good with that staff."

Nami gave a weak smile, "Thanks... but I'm no match for you." She looked past the blonde, where a pile of at least fifty men were all groaning in pain, blood soaking their clothes.

"Well, I guess you could say I have a bit more experience. Don't worry too much about it." Yugito said, flicking the blood off her claws and letting them sink back into her fingers. She was pleased to see a lack of blood on her fingerless gloves. She was always careful about that.

She let Nami catch her breath and looked off toward the building they were aiming for, "Is that it?"

Nami nodded and slipped the segments of her staff back into her thigh holster, "Yeah. Let's go steal some treasure!"

* * *

"You bastard!" The loud voice of Lufia reached Naruto's sensitive ears.

Naruto had caught the majority of Lufia's little scuffle with Buggy. He wouldn't exactly call it a fight, since Buggy had spent the majority of it trying to antagonize Lufia. He had to admit, Lufia's poker face was flawless. She didn't seem to take him seriously at all, something that drove Buggy wild.

Unfortunately, Lufia was caught slightly off guard by a quick 'Chop Chop Harpoon' which entailed Buggy launching his hand, with knives between his fingers, at Lufia. She didn't dodge quite fast enough, and the daggers flew past her head. Barely cutting Lufia's straw hat. Then she finally got _angry_.

He was learning that there was only one real trigger that set Lufia off. It was when someone either insulted someone else's dream, or messed with their 'treasure'. Treasure could refer to a lot of things. For Lufia, as he just discovered, it was her hat. For Coby, his dream was also his treasure, the one thing that he wanted more than anything else in life. To become a Marine. When Morgan had corrupted that treasure, Lufia got _angry_.

They say you should 'beware the fury of a patient man' and in this case, a cheerful woman. There wasn't much that got Lufia angry, but when she did get pushed to her breaking point...

"Damn you! You knicked my hat!" She shouted, looking at the small cut on the edge of her hat.

"It's that important to you, eh?" Buggy said with a smug look. His hand, still floating with his Devil-Fruit powers, was sneaking up behind Lufia, still carrying knives.

"This hat is my treasure! Nobody damages it!" She shouted, her eyes screaming murder.

Buggy's hand threw the knives at Lufia's back. The sound of steel whistling through the air caught her attention, and she moved to dodge.

Unfortunately, they were standing in the ruins of the Inn, and her leg got caught on a piece of timber. She fell forward with a curse, dodging the knife, but dropping her hat in the process.

"Shit!"

Buggy launched his other hand with a 'Chop Chop Harpoon' and shouted with glee, "Then you should take better care of it!"

Lufia's blood ran cold as she saw him looking, not at her, but at her hat. His hand of knives flew at her defenseless hat, as it flew through the air. She reached out in vain, her arm not fast enough to grasp her hat before Buggy's hand reached it.

"YEEOOWWCHH!"

Buggy screamed in pain as his hand was mercilessly stomped on... again.

Naruto whisked the hat out of the air as he crushed Buggy's fingers with his sandal. "You okay, Lufia?" He asked, looking at the small cut in the hat.

"Naruto..." She said weakly, her eyes were watery as she remembered the promise she had made to Shanks. The promise to watch over his hat, until she grew strong enough to return it to him. The promise she had just almost broken.

She wiped away her tears and got to her feet, "Yeah... Just fine. Thanks for saving my hat."

He gave her a bright smile, "No problem... Partner."

The words struck a chord in her and she looked at him with a thoughtful face. "Hey... Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep my hat safe." She said, cracking her knuckles as she turned a murderous glare to Buggy. "This won't take long."

He chuckled and put more weight on the foot crushing Buggy's hand, "You got it."

"Hahaha...!" Buggy let out a laugh, weakened by the pain of his hand being crushed, "You call that stupid straw thing a treasure? You must be blind! Real treasure is gold, jewels, and stacks of Belli!"

_'Yikes,' _Naruto thought, _'That was probably the worst thing he could've said to Lufia.' _Buggy had just stepped on a landmine and he clearly didn't even know it.

"Shut up!" She yelled as she ran forward, "I promised I'd take care of that hat. Then return it to Shanks!"

The words of Lufia shocked both Naruto and Buggy. The rubber-girl used the chance to close the distance.

"...Hiiiiee!"

Buggy let out a high pitched squeak as Lufia used his shock to get in close enough to plant a powerful kick right between Buggy's legs. Naruto winced and placed his free hand over his groin protectively._ 'Man, what is it with women going for that place?! I know it's a weak spot but seriously... I'm in pain just watching it happen.' _

Their fight continued, with Lufia dealing far more damage than Buggy in their exchanges. Lufia had literally beaten into the clown 'Don't touch my hat!'.

Buggy got a moment of peace from the onslaught of attacks and launched into a long tale. It was mainly about himself, but he mentioned how he and Shanks were 'equals'. Both were apprentice pirates under the same Jolly Roger. _Gol D Roger's_ Jolly Roger.

As he ranted into his tale, the truth slapped Naruto across the face. 'Shanks'. No wonder the name sounded so familiar. They were talking about Red Hair. One of the feared Yonko. The name had rung a bell when Lufia had mentioned it before, but he couldn't quite place it.

_'Shanks..?'_ Naruto looked down at the hat in his hands in a different light,_ '...so that's what happened to his hat. Everyone was confused when Red Hair lost an arm and his signature hat, but no one really knew what happened.'_ He had been young at the time, so he didn't really understand the big deal, but as he grew older, the stories of the infamous 'Red-Haired Shanks' captivated him. He was almost as legendary as Whitebeard himself.

For such a man to lose an arm and his most precious possession, without any news of how it happened... It made some serious waves in the world. Stories and rumors ran rampant, but Shanks himself had said nothing.

It was starting to get interesting. He was getting bits and pieces of the story, and the scraps he was fed only left him wanting more. He wanted to ask, but it was a bad time. He'd wait till they had a moment of peace, or Lufia approached him about it.

Buggy apparently being a member of the Roger Pirates was another shocking revelation. Naruto could hardly believe that this clown was a member of the legendary pirate crew that conquered the Grand Line. As well as being 'friends' with a Yonko.

That was about as interesting as the conversation got. The rest was about how Shanks had 'disgraced' Buggy by accidentally causing him to swallow a Devil-Fruit and lose his treasure map.

To Naruto and Lufia, it just sounded like the whining of a spoiled child. Things hadn't gone his way, so Buggy blamed everyone else. The man clearly held grudges, since he still held anger for Shanks, even after two decades had passed. Naruto's opinion of the man sunk to a new low when Buggy accidentally revealed that Shanks had actually saved his life.

"-If I can't get the treasure that's _in_ the sea, I'll just have to take all the treasure _on_ the sea." Buggy declared, breaking apart at the waist and flying high in the air, "Using my Chop Chop Power."

His eyes turned to the side and spotted the two women of the crew, "I don't care who you are... No one touches my treasure!" He shouted as he flew off to the side, aiming at the two girls that had just finished their looting.

"Shit!" Nami swore as she prepared for another fight. They had stripped Buggy's treasure room for all it's worth, and had managed to see most of the fight. They had arrived just when Lufia's hat had been nicked.

Nami had watched the fight with disbelief, seeing two 'Devil-Fruit users' in action was shaking her beliefs to the core. She hadn't believed in the rumors, but she had watched two living examples of the Devil's power fight each other. Their powers boggled her mind.

One made of rubber, with the power to stretch her limbs on command. Using it both to increase the range of her strikes, and using her flexibility to dodge, pulling herself with her arms when she needed a quick escape.

The other was a 'Chop Chop' man, with the ability to separate his body parts at will. Something that was obviously impossible. He could break apart any portion of his body, using it in an almost perfect defense, and somehow gained the ability to _fly_ with everything above his feet.

It was insane. Far beyond the grunts she had taken down herself. She felt _far_ out of her element watching.

Yugito had seen her disbelief and filled her in on what exactly Devil-Fruits were. She had explained the abilities of the two combatants, as much as she could infer from the battle, while they watched. Yugito had also mentioned her own powers, giving her sharp claws and enhanced senses, and Naruto's powers as well.

Nami's eyes nearly popped out of her skull as she saw the blonde sitting atop a fearsome lion, with blood-red eyes and nine bushy fox tails. Those certainly weren't there before. He had hopped off his lion as Lufia found herself in a pinch, and intervened in the fight just in time to save the girl's hat. Nami silently cheered the blonde on, knowing just how _much_ that hat meant to Lufia.

"I'll kill you!"

Nami cursed and reached for her thigh holster, assembling her staff in a flourish.

Yugito was faster, slipping past her and bringing out her claws. She slashed at Buggy's throat.

"That won't work on me!"

His head smoothly separated from his shoulders as her claws reached his neck, letting her attack pass through harmlessly.

"Damn." Yugito cursed as she blocked his knives with her claws, "How am I supposed to hit him?" She had seen his little trick during the fight. His body split apart on its own, it was a perfect defense.

_'No.'_ She banished that line of thought immediately, _'No defense is perfect.'_ She just needed to figure out the trick.

"Yugito." The voice of her Captain was quiet, but easily reached her sensitive ears, "His powers are the opposite of Lufia's."

_'Opposite..?'_ She reflected on Naruto's words as quickly as her mind allowed. Lufia's powers were rubber. A silly power at a glance, but allowed her to take blunt attacks without any damage. _'Wait... That's it. I see it now... If he's opposite to Lufia's powers then...' _

"That's right!" Buggy declared proudly as he put more weight into his knives, "I'm a Chop Chop man! No blade can touch me. I can't be cut or sliced! There's no way to-ARRGH!"

Yugito pushed his knives aside as he boasted, and let her claws retract back into her hands. She wound back one gloved fist and struck him with a good old fashioned right hook. Buggy's eyes went wide as Yugito's fist plowed painfully into his massive nose, sending his torso flying back to Lufia.

The black-haired girl smiled widely as Yugito sent his top half back at her. Lufia reached out with a hand as Buggy came within distance. She grasped his head in her hand and slammed it down into the ground as hard as she could. A loud crashing noise filled the air as she smashed his face into the foundation of the ruined building. When she pulled back, his body was slack. He was unconscious.

"We won!" She didn't hesitate to let out a cheer, throwing her arms in the air.

"Well done Lufia!" Naruto clapped as he approached her. Richie was following behind, looking sadly at the collapsed form of his crew.

"Shishishi... Where'd you get the lion Naruto?"

He gained a teasing smile, "Ah well, I found it in town and it reminded me so much of Yugito that I just had to bring it along, y'know?"

Yugito appeared behind him, slapping him lightly on the shoulder, "Idiot," Her small smile betrayed her words, "You really can't resist the cat references can you?"

"Nope!" He replied without shame.

Yugito shook her head and slipped a large bag off her shoulder, one they hadn't noticed before, and set it down on the ground. "We really snagged a lot. Buggy had a surprising amount of treasure stored up."

Nami appeared with a slightly smaller bag, and placed it down next to Yugito's with a huff, "How can you even carry that? These things are heavy!"

Yugito shrugged, "I train hard."

Lufia stepped over and picked Nami's bag up with one hand, "This isn't that heavy."

Nami's shoulders slumped, "Fine... You carry it then." She had thought she was pretty strong for a girl, but these two just weren't fair!

"How can you even do that?" Nami said, referring to both Lufia's strength, and the crazy fight she had just seen, "Your arms are even lankier than mine!"

"Shishishi... I'm strong!"

Nami looked ready to pull her hair out in frustration. Naruto let out a chuckle, "You should get used to it Nami. We're all monsters here." The word was accurate for the whole crew, except their newest member. Naruto didn't care, he figured Nami would turn into a monster soon enough.

Nami sighed in resignation. She could feel a large number of headaches coming her way in the near future.

"Hey... Where's Zoro?" Lufia asked, looking around.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since we left during his fight," Yugito said.

"Hahaha! He's over there." Naruto pointed a thumb over his shoulder, and the group turned to see the green-haired Swordsman sitting on the ground, leaning his back against a building.

"...zzzZZZZzzzz..."

Soft snoring reached their ears.

"He slept through all of that?!" Nami asked with a sweatdrop.

Yugito shrugged, "He hasn't slept since Shells Town, so it would make sense that he would be exhausted. That fight he had probably took the last of his energy."

Naruto nodded, "Yep. He passed out pretty quickly, telling me to wake him up when it's over... Speaking of which, we should find a place to settle down for the night. We've all had a long day."

The rest of the crew gave their agreement easily.

"Hey!"

They turned to see an old man approaching them. He was dressed in brown armor and had scraggly white hair. He pushed his glasses up on his nose as he looked around the area. He saw the ruins of the Pirate's Hideout, bodies scattered all over the place, and finally, Buggy himself on the ground. His eyes went wide as he identified a few more of Buggy's officers. Cabaji was lying in a pool of his own blood, and Mohji was slightly embedded in a wall, both had clearly been beaten.

He turned to the group with a testing look in his eye. A large group of villagers had rallied behind him, each carrying makeshift weapons.

"Care to explain what happened here?"

* * *

The remainder of the day flew past quickly. Lufia happily declared they were pirates, setting the villagers on edge. Naruto hastily amended that they meant no harm and that they were only there to get Buggy's bounty. As much fun as it would be to have a group of villagers chase them out of town, they were tired and needed a place to rest.

After which, the villagers happily threw a party. Celebrating the end of Buggy's reign over the town.

The old man from before, the mayor as it turns out, showered the group with a million 'thank yous' and gave them a place to rest up for the night. He offered his own home, until the rest of the villagers protested and lead the group to a big enough house for all five of them.

They slept well, taking a well-deserved rest from the long day. As Naruto fell asleep he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle,_ 'The heroes of two different towns in just one day. Things are definitely going to be more interesting from now on...' _

The villagers quickly tied up the remainder of The Buggy Pirates, Richie included, and sent a message to the closest Marine Base. They claimed that Buggy himself had slipped away. An excuse that would let Naruto turn in the bounty himself, after they left.

The next morning found them at the docks, getting another tearful 'thank you' from the mayor and the villagers.

"Shishishi... It's no problem! Take care of yourself old man!" Lufia said, standing on the edge of the boat to wave goodbye to the villagers.

"You stupid brat!" The mayor said without malice, wiping the tears from his eyes, "No respect for your elders!"

Zoro was still asleep in his seat. He had walked to the boat on auto-pilot, then promptly fell into a seat and slipped back into a deep slumber.

Nami was helping Yugito strap down the treasure sacks, and set their next course.

Naruto was found in the back of the Hunter. He had opened a large compartment in the back, just before the engines. Usually, it was used to store provisions, gear, or even fish, but in this case...

"...mmrrphhhh! Muurrmmpphhh!"

"Yeah, yeah... I hear you." Naruto careless tossed the gagged head of Buggy The Clown into the compartment. His limbs were still separated and bound _very_ carefully to prevent any escape attempts. They discovered that he couldn't move separated pieces of his body so long as they were restrained somehow. In this case, Nami had gleefully tied his pieces together, preventing him from reconnecting them.

Naruto ignored the muffled protests of his Bounty and picked up a small bucket he had kept in the compartment. Leaning over the edge of the boat, he scooped out a bucket full of Seawater.

"Sorry about this Buggy..." He said, his voice completely unapologetic, with a cheerful smile on his face, "But I can't take any risks."

"Mmrph..?"

Buggy's face filled with horror as Naruto smiled down at him from the edge of the compartment and the blonde tipped the bucket over. His body went slack as a bucket full of Seawater drenched him to the bone. Buggy's new prison was covered in an inch of saltwater, preventing him from using his Devil-Fruit powers, or moving in any way.

"Just sit tight, Buggy. We'll find you a nice, cozy, cell to sit in real soon."

Buggy could only weakly glare at the blond as he shut the lid of the compartment, trapping the Clown in darkness.

* * *

"...I still can't get used to that..."

Nami muttered as she sat down on the right side of the Helm. She was watching as Naruto entertained Lufia with his tails. His _fox tails_. His fox ears would twitch and a small purr would escape his throat as Lufia 'groomed' his tails, carefully brushing them. His eyes were squinted closed as he leaned back in the seat which, combined with his whiskers, gave him the appearance of a fox.

She thought it was cute, despite the strangeness, as he slowly melted to putty in Lufia's hands. She was still struggling to believe this man was the very same one who had cut down those pirates so ruthlessly. He had a completely different personality! Was it that simple? Just like flipping a switch? One moment he was a casual, relaxed blonde and the next, he was a ruthless killer. The revelation of his Devil-Fruit powers just added more confusion to the mix.

A thought entered her mind. She had heard Yugito say their powers were the same 'type' of Devil-Fruit... Yet she hadn't seen any Cat-like features besides Yugito's eyes.

"Hey, Naruto?" She decided to just ask. No sense in trying to figure everything out herself.

"Hmm?"

"Why do you have tails?"

"Hm. This is my 'Hybrid' form of my Devil-Fruit." He didn't bother to open his eyes, too busy enjoying the feeling of Lufia's hands running through his fur.

She nodded, "I understand that. I was just wondering why you stay in that form instead of your normal one."

"This _is_ my normal one."

"Huh?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"Well..." He opened his eyes and sat up, sensing that it might be a long explanation. "Yugito explained the various types of Devil-Fruits to you, right? Paramecia, Logia, and finally, Zoan."

Nami nodded. Yugito had given her a quick run-down as they watched the battle between Lufia and Buggy. The Cat-woman had been quick, but concise so Nami got the idea. That being said, it didn't explain Naruto's tails.

"For a Logia-type, their bodies are transformed into a natural element, and they can change back into their 'physical' forms at will. The rules for a Paramecia are much wider in variety, usually giving them some other type of strange power. Lufia and Buggy are both Paramecia-types." He explained.

"Zoan-types are different. They, like Logias, transform the user, but instead of an element, they transform the user into an animal. Anything from a simple dog to a massive lion. The general rule of Zoan-types gives the user three basic forms to use. A 'Human Form' that is basically just your regular form. The one you had _before_ you ate the fruit, although sometimes they keep a few features of their animal. Then, an 'Animal form' this is a full transformation. In Yugito's case, she can easily take the form of a cat."

"And then a 'Hybrid form'?" Nami asked, starting to get the picture.

"Yep. This is a mix of the two. Normally people stay in their Human forms because they find it more comfortable. As you can see, I'm different. I don't really know _why_, but my Devil-Fruit seems to be an exception to this rule. Instead of my Human form being my default, my Hybrid Form is. I can still take my Human form at will, but if I keep it up too long it starts to take a toll on my body. I can't really tell you why it happens. It just feels like my body 'rejects' the standard Human form."

"Maybe it's because your fruit is based on a kitsune?" Zoro spoke from his seat. He had been brought out of his meditation by their conversation. It caught his attention quickly.

"You're awake?!" Nami jolted in shock, not expecting to hear a voice from behind her.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "That's what I was thinking as well... I'm surprised you made that connection. No offense, but you really don't seem like the type to know that kind of stuff."

The Swordsman shrugged, "Folklore interests me..." His attacks were based on demons, so naturally, he had to get inspiration somewhere.

"Yeah me too." Naruto agreed with the Swordsman, "Although, that may be just because of my Devil-Fruit. After I ate it, I tried to do as much research on foxes as I could. I got pretty into it, and ended up reading a bunch of old stories, involving all sorts of different folklore. I figure my little 'Hybrid problem' has to do with the stories. That would make sense."

Zoro nodded along in agreement.

"I'm not getting it..." Nami said with slight embarrassment. Their small chat was going over her head. She wasn't a knowledge freak or anything like that, but she still didn't like finding a hole in her knowledge. Especially when she was being left in the dark by _Zoro_ of all people.

Naruto relieved her plight, "It's an old piece of folklore. The stories are widely different but most share common themes. One of the themes is a Kitsune that can transform into a person, to disguise itself in public. The stories usually end with the fox getting discovered somehow. Usually by either getting drunk and accidentally revealing its tail or the illusion breaking somehow. The general theme is 'it's hard for a kitsune to hide its tails'."

"Oh. So that's why you think you're stuck in your Hybrid form?" Nami said.

"Yep. That's the only answer I can think of. Even with my shapeshifting, I have trouble concealing all of my physical traits. If I don't leave some 'tell' like my red eyes or whisker marks, it gets really taxing to maintain the transformation."

"You can shapeshift?" Zoro asked with a quirked eyebrow.

He nodded, and gave a little demonstration. His fox features disappeared, much to Lufia's disappointment. Her pout quickly turned to an excited smile as his hair turned to a short, mossy green. His clothes transformed into a simple white shirt and black pants. A black bandanna covered his head, shadowing his slitted red eyes. A near-perfect copy of Roanoa Zoro gave them a fox-like smirk. Which, on Zoro's face, looked more like a bloodthirsty grin.

"Creepy," Zoro commented.

Nami nodded her head in agreement. _'Zoro looks terrifying with red eyes!' _

"That's so cool! Do me next!" Lufia chirped happily. She spun in her seat, sitting cross-legged facing him to watch.

He rolled his eyes and transformed into a copy of Lufia... well _almost_. "I don't like turning into girls." The _male_ twin of Lufia said as he placed a straw hat on his messy black hair. Like with Zoro, his eyes were still blood red and slitted.

Lufia had a wide smile as she looked over her male form. She looked pretty badass if she did say so herself! "Why not?" She asked as she looked over his form, poking at his body to test if it was solid or not.

It was.

He gave her a blank look, "Do I really need to answer that?"

She tilted her head innocently.

He slapped his face as he turned back into himself. Of course, Lufia wouldn't see the problem.

Nami did. "Don't ever turn into me! Got it?!" She shouted, already prepared to reach for her staff just in case she needed to pound her threat into his skull.

"Yeah, I got it. Don't worry, Yugito already gave me the 'Don't use your powers for perverted reasons' lecture."

Yugito looked over her shoulder to send Nami a wink and a small thumbs up.

Nami smiled back and relaxed in her seat. "So... Your Zoan-type is for a Nine-tailed Fox... Why not just a normal fox?"

"That's where the folklore comes in." He replied, "There are three different 'Types' of Zoan Devil-Fruits. The most common ones are your standard animal fruits. Dogs, Cats, Horses, that kind of thing. After that, the next type is 'Ancient' Zoan-types. They are incredibly rare and allow the user to transform into an Ancient animal. From what I understand, they are usually Dinosaurs. T-rexes, that kind of thing."

"Really?" Nami paled at the thought of real, living Dinosaurs. She couldn't imagine attempting to fight that kind of thing, much less if it had a _human_ mind behind it.

"Yep. I haven't met one personally, so I can't tell you much about them. Even rarer than that, is the last type. 'Mythical' Zoan-types. These allow the user to transform into beasts of Myth. Granting unbelievable powers of legend."

"Mythical..." She muttered, imagining large fire-breathing dragons. Wait... Her eyes widened as she came to a conclusion. If folklore applied to his powers... "Then that means..."

"Yep!" He said cheerfully, "I ate the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine-Tailed Fox. A Mythical Zoan-type."

Nami leaned back in her seat, digesting the new information.

"I did as well." Yugito spoke up from the Helm, "The Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Two-Tailed Cat. Another Mythical Zoan-type."

"No way..." She said weakly in shock. "So you two have some of the rarest powers in the world?"

"Yep," Naruto said casually.

"You two must've been quite lucky to run into each other... How did you two meet?" Nami instantly regretted the words the moment they left her mouth. A small depressing aura seemed to wash over the Hunter. Naruto's cheerful smile was gone in an instant, and even Yugito seemed bothered by the question. A stark difference from her usual stoicism.

"Uh... Sorry." She hung her head, not sure how to disperse the awkward situation.

Naruto shook his head, "It's fine. We just met in a... less than pleasant situation. I guess you could say fate just kind of threw us together a couple of years ago. We've stuck together since then. Neither of us really had any good reason to separate. So, we didn't."

Nami nodded in understanding but didn't ask anything else. Not wanting to make the situation any worse.

Zoro, surprisingly, was the one to break the silence, "You said you gained Shapeshifting as well... Does that mean you get _other_ kitsune powers?" If the stories were safe to go by, Naruto had the potential to gain some pretty powerful weapons.

Naruto looked over and gave him a foxy smirk, but didn't answer.

Zoro snorted, that was all the answer he needed. He looked around the ship in thought, his eyes drifting toward the Helmswoman. Yugito. She had said she ate a Mythical Devil-Fruit as well. The Two-Tailed Cat. He shivered as he made the connection. _'That's why I was getting such a bad vibe from her. A Nekomata, huh? Terrifying.' _

"Hey." Zoro looked over to see Naruto giving him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Wipe that look off your face, Swordsman."

Zoro obeyed. He sent a small smirk to Naruto, vanishing his thoughts, "Oh yeah? Or what?"

He smiled in response, a real smile this time, and raised a bottle he had produced from somewhere, "Or I won't share my Sake with you."

Zoro snorted and slipped across the walkway, sliding into the seat behind Naruto. The blonde spun around in his seat and passed him a saucer.

"Are you two really going to start _drinking_?" Nami asked in disbelief.

"Yeah?" Naruto said and tilted his head, "It's...what? Eleven in the morning?"

Zoro nodded sagely, "Sounds like a good time for a drink to me."

Naruto filled both their saucers and they raised them together.

"You two are unbelievable." Nami shook her head, "It's too early in the morning for that!"

The two men shrugged and spoke in unison, "It's five o'clock somewhere!" They started on the first round.

Naruto took a simple sip of his own, while he watched Zoro drink his entirely in one gulp.

He sighed and shook his head, "It's Sake, not Rum, Zoro. Take it easy."

The swordsman smacked his lips and shrugged, "Booze is Booze." He offered his saucer to Naruto.

The blonde rolled his eyes, "Suit yourself. But I'm not letting you drink the whole bottle." He said as he refilled Zoro's drink.

"Hey!" Lufia tugged on a tail to get his attention, "Me too!"

Naruto turned an eyebrow, "You drink, Lufia?"

She shrugged, "Makino owns a bar, remember? And Pirates love to drink!"

Zoro grunted in agreement, "Can't argue with that logic."

Naruto chuckled and pulled out another saucer, "Fair enough." Only Lufia would want to drink for a simple reason like 'Because Pirates like to drink.'

Nami massaged her temples in a vain attempt to halt the growing headache. Part of her was worried for the innocent girl being handed alcohol. The other part knew the girl had a bottomless stomach, so she wasn't too worried. She turned to Yugito, "Can you believe those two? I'm glad we have another level-headed girl in our crew. I think I'd go insane if I was trapped with those three at sea."

Yugito nodded and raised her own sake saucer in agreement, "I'll drink to that." She sipped on her drink lightly, keeping a close eye on the controls. She barely concealed a snicker as she heard Nami gasp in shock.

"What?!" Nami's eyes bugged out as she noticed Yugito was drinking as well. "Where did you get that?"

Yugito looked back at her with confusion, "Naruto handed it to me while you were talking, weren't you paying attention?"

Nami looked back at the blonde, who was still sitting in the same spot, happily chatting with Lufia over some random thing. She turned back to Yugito, who had turned her head back to the controls. Nami frowned, "Don't you need both hands to steer the ship?"

Yugito shook her head and took another sip, "No. The left stick controls the rudders while the right controls the speed of the engines. I can lock either in place if I need a free hand. So long as I keep feeding it fire with my left hand, we'll keep our speed." Normally, controlling the engines with one hand would be taxing, but they weren't moving too fast today. Yesterday had been rather chaotic, so they were satisfied with a slower, relaxing speed.

Nami relented with a sigh. It wasn't like she hated alcohol or anything. She was an experienced drinker herself, she had to be in her profession. The best way to knick someone's purse was to get them falling-over drunk. She had built quite the tolerance in an effort to keep her head while 'working'.

She just wasn't that big of a fan of casual drinking. Usually, when she drank it was to get other people drunk, not to get drunk herself. But, if her crew was happy to drink then she wasn't going to be the wet blanket. In fact...

"Naruto." She stomped over to the seat, "Pass me a saucer! I'll show you how it's done!" She pushed Zoro over in his seat and sat down with them.

Naruto gained a wicked glint in his eyes and complied, filling another saucer to the brim. He passed it to her with a knowing grin, "You might want to-"

She ignored his warning and knocked it down in one gulp. Just as fast as Zoro had.

"Ack!" She choked immediately, coughing up a fit. "What the hell kind of Sake was that? That _burns_."

The rest of the crew had a laugh at her expense while he explained, "It's Firebrand, a family recipe. Pretty strong stuff. So, as I was _about_ to say, you might want to take it slow."

She looked at the other four people, drinking the Sake without any problems. "You're all freaks..." She muttered, but she gained a small grin and held her saucer back out, "...give me another..."

The crew let out another bout of laughter as they all settled into a small drinking party.

Yugito looked back at them as Nami joined in on their drinking. She turned back to the controls and let a wide smile stretch across her lips when she was sure Nami couldn't see her face. She set her empty saucer on the dashboard, and reached down between her legs. She pulled out a Sake bottle of her own and refilled her saucer with a soft chuckle,_ 'That girl is going to be too much fun to mess with.' _

They passed the time with happy conversation, enjoying the relaxing boat ride as they made their way to the next island. The four settled in their seats swapped stories and shared jokes, with Yugito contently listening in. They were sure to steer the conversation her way a few times, keeping her from feeling left out. Not that she minded. She was more of the 'listening' type when it came to conversation.

Nami had come back up to the Helm every so often, ensuring they were keeping their course. Yugito didn't really need the help, but every crew member had openly acknowledged Nami's skill when it came to Navigation. The girl certainly knew her stuff when it came to the ocean. Nami's input helped them reach their destination fast, and they reached the next island within an hour.

They were headed to a small island, with only one town. 'Syrup Village'.

* * *

"We're here!" Lufia declared as the boat slid up to the shore. She was sitting on the very front tip of Hunter, something rather dangerous when you considered her powers. She didn't seem to notice.

The rest of the crew piled out of the ship, dropping the anchor to prevent their boat from washing away.

"Hmm..." Naruto hummed in thought as he looked at the hills of the island. It was certainly smaller than he thought.

"Why'd you want to come here Naruto?" Nami asked as she stepped up beside him. "Do you really think we'll find a ship here?"

He shrugged, "Not really... But I hear there's some rich family that lives here. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. Maybe they can point us in the right direction."

"If you say so." Nami didn't seem too trusting.

Zoro stretched his limbs happily as he finished anchoring the boat. "Solid ground at last!"

"We were only in the boat for a few hours..." Lufia shook her head at him.

"Nevermind that..." Zoro placed a hand on his swords as his eyes wandered up the nearby cliffside, landing on a small group of people, "What do you think is up with those guys?"

The spotted group of onlookers jumped out of their hiding place in surprise. Apparently, they thought they were well concealed. The group was a man about their age with a long nose, and three kids.

After a bit of arguing amongst themselves, the oldest headed down the cliff to meet them.

"Ah- Sorry for spying on you. We thought you were pirates..." He said with a slightly embarrassed laugh.

"Hm?" Lufia tilted her head in confusion, "We are pirates."

The boy visibly paled, his expression frozen on his face as he started sweating. He stood there for a few moments, visibly shaking before mustering up the courage to speak. "O-O-Of course I knew that! That's why I have my 80 million men ready for battle! So you'd better leave now, and forget about invading!"

"Liar," Nami said.

His expression morphed to terror, "She saw right through me!" He screamed, clutching his head in panic.

"See? I knew it."

"Ah! I admitted that I lied! She's a master of interrogation!" The boy continued his mindless panic.

He froze at the sound of laughter and turned to Lufia who was clutching her sides.

"You're funny!" She laughed at his expense.

"Hey! Are you making fun of me?!"

Naruto decided to have mercy on the kid, and spoke up, "Relax. We aren't here to invade anything. We just stopped by to see about getting a bigger ship."

The boy immediately calmed down. "Oh is that all?" He said with relief.

_'He's far too trusting!' _Naruto thought.

"My name is Captain Usopp!" He declared proudly, pointing to himself.

"I'm Lufia! Nice to meetcha!" She offered a small wave, which was then weakened by the loud growl of her stomach. "...I'm hungry." She fell to her knees.

The boy gaped at her for a second, before offering a smile. "I can show you somewhere to eat. I know all the best restaurants in town!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" He puffed out his chest in pride. _'There's only one restaurant in town though...' _He conveniently forgot to add.

* * *

Lunch was about as chaotic as you would expect with their crew. Usopp had led them to a place with a sign that simply said 'Food' and they got a large booth.

Lufia put away food faster than a starving man, Zoro put away booze faster than a man dying of thirst, and Nami tried to maintain her sanity while eating.

Yugito helped in that regard, keeping conversation with the Navigator as they ate. Eventually, Usopp launched into a tale about the rich family Naruto had heard about. Turns out the parents had died, and their daughter, an only child, was the only remaining member of the family. She lived alone in a massive mansion, with plenty of servants, but was sick and bedridden.

As the story ended, Usopp jokingly offered to join their crew as their Captain. His 'offer' was shot down immediately.

Though he was clearly kidding, Naruto could see he did seem to want to set sail someday. Which was probably why he introduced himself as 'Captain Usopp'.

Eventually, the conversation slowed down and Naruto rose from his seat. "I'm going to go check out the town." He said casually, offering a small wave as he slipped away from the booth. Yugito quickly joined him.

Lufia nodded absently, not really paying attention as she waved down a waiter, "More meat over here!"

"And booze!" Zoro added.

Nami watched them go with slightly narrowed eyes, but didn't comment. She turned to Lufia in exasperation, looking at the girl's thin figure, "How do you eat so much?!"

* * *

"So that's him, huh?" Yugito asked they sat on the massive wall surrounding the island's only mansion.

They were watching a thin butler through one of the building's windows. He seemed to be preparing lunch for the house's lady, and both spectators frowned as they watched him slip something into the food. The man clearly thought he was alone, and his entire person screamed 'suspicious'.

"Yeah. See him push his glasses up with his palm? That's a habit he supposedly got because of his choice in weapons."

"Claws..." Yugito rolled her eyes and frowned in distaste.

It was ironic in a way. That they came across someone who used claws as a weapon so early in their journey.

The mansion wasn't actually their intended destination when they slipped away from the restaurant. Naruto had taken a small bag of food down to the ship to feed Buggy. As much as he disliked the Clown, he wasn't going to starve the bastard. He figured leaving the Clown to soak in Seawater was punishment enough, knowing just how uncomfortable it was from his own experience.

'Feeding' Buggy was more or less just Naruto attaching Buggy's head to his torso, and then stuffing apples into his mouth before tossing him back in the compartment. Any protest the Clown had was cut off by the fruit.

A commotion in the yard drew their attention, and they looked over just in time to see Lufia climb over the main gate.

"What is she doing?" Naruto heard Yugito whisper as she slapped her face in disbelief.

He let out a small chuckle as Zoro, Usopp, Nami, and three small kids entered the grounds through a small hole in the fence, following Lufia.

The lady, Kaya they learned, opened her bedroom window to speak to them.

Lufia had only just mentioned finding a ship, when the butler revealed himself, calling them intruders and telling them to leave immediately.

The conversation quickly spiraled down from there, with harsh words being tossed around by both parties.

Naruto frowned as 'Klahadore' dismissed everything his 'Mistress' said. Instead, giving orders as if he was the one in charge. He wondered if that was a normal thing for them. If so, he certainly pitied the girl's life living with the butler.

He struggled to contain his laughter as Usopp lashed out with a solid punch and knocked the butler off his feet. That would certainly cause some trouble, but damn if it didn't feel good to watch! He had been itching to go down there and kick the butler's ass himself from the way things were going. But that would have to wait a bit.

The rest of their crew was finally kicked out of the mansion, after Kaya herself asked them to leave. Usopp was clearly fuming from Klahadore's taunting of his father, while the rest just followed along.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting," Naruto said as he dropped off the wall.

"So, what's the plan?" Yugtio asked, getting straight to the point.

"For now-"

"Hey!"

They both turned to see an irate Nami walking up to them.

"Where have you two been?" She asked.

"Feeding our prisoner." Naruto replied, "And then we dropped by the mansion just in time to see that mess."

Nami nodded, "I saw you guys on the wall. You could've joined us down there."

Naruto and Yugito shared a glance, "It's better that we didn't." He said with a small smile.

Nami looked between them with a frown, "You're hiding something." She accused.

Naruto shrugged, "We weren't really hiding anything, we just didn't let you know ahead of time. If you had asked I would've told you what was going on."

Nami didn't seem pleased by that answer but let it go. "Alright, fine. Then what's going on?"

He fished into his orange robe and pulled out a few rolled up papers. He tossed them to her, and patiently waited for her to take a look at them.

She opened them up immediately, recognizing them as things he had taken from Captain Morgan's office and started to read. "Captian Kuro?" She asked, reading about the Captain of the Black Cats.

The first paper was a simple profile. It listed everything the Marines knew about the Captain and his crew, including Jolly Roger, fighting tactics, and notable pirate raids.

"Yep. The next page is the important part."

Nami switched pages and started reading again, her face quickly losing color as she started to piece together the situation.

The next page was Captain Morgan's personal notes on his 'achievement' of bringing in the dreaded Captain Kuro. A page he had stolen from Morgan's stache of hidden documents. One that went into detail of Kuro and Morgan's little plan together. About how Kuro had effectively defeated Morgan, but struck a deal with the disgraced Marine.

Kuro would be 'arrested' by Morgan, when in reality it was a body-double, and in exchange, Morgan would keep quiet about the affair. The remainder of the page was detailing Kuro's plan. A plan that involved posing as a butler and usurping the wealth of a prominent family.

Nami lowered the papers with shaky hands, "...You mean..."

Naruto nodded grimly, and gestured back to the papers, "Take a look at the last one."

She did as instructed, and revealed the last paper. A Wanted Poster for Captain Kuro. She took a sharp breath as the near-perfect image of Klahadore stared back at her, with a manic grin on his face and a clawed hand pushing up his glasses.

Suddenly Nami's knees felt weak, as she realized she had been within arm's reach of a dreaded Pirate without even knowing. She had felt something off about the man, but she had just assumed it was his apparent hatred for Usopp that gave her that feeling. Now she knows it was more than that.

She met Naruto's eyes and he gave her a small smile. "Relax Nami. We're going to make sure he doesn't get to do as he pleases."

She stared at him for a moment, and gave a small nod. Surprisingly, his words had made her feel a lot better about the situation. She had to remember that she was with a group of powerful pirates. They could handle this.

...

Her thoughts paused briefly as she realized just how outrageous such thoughts would have been to her just a few days ago. Had she really changed that much? Before, she would've been caught dead before even thinking about working with a pirate... and now she was placing her faith in them? It was crazy... but she found herself not minding the change.

She met Naruto's gaze and nodded, "So? What's the plan?"

He gave a fox-like smirk.

* * *

Kaya buried her face in her pillow as she coughed.

She couldn't believe Klahadore! She knew he hated Usopp, but why? Why did he have to be so cruel to the only person in the village that didn't treat her like glass? Usopp was the only one who seemed to care how _she_ felt.

He was her one and only source of joy in this village, and yet he had to hide from her staff to see her. It wasn't right.

Klahadore had taken it too far this time. She knew Usopp's family was an extremely delicate subject from one of the only times she brought it up. When she had, he had clammed up instantly and left in the middle of one of his famous stories. She didn't see him for a few days after that. It made her sad.

Yet Klahadore must've known this, in fact, her butler seemed to know a lot about Usopp's family. But the butler didn't care, he stood there and openly insulted Usopp's pride in his family, in his father.

She knew she should've stopped it before things escalated, but they escalated far too quickly. It got out of hand before she could do anything, and Usopp ended up resorting to violence.

She knew it wasn't right, but a small part of her cheered when Usopp punched her servant.

But a larger part of her saw one of her family's most trusted servants get attacked, and it broke her heart. How had things gotten so bad? She sent Usopp and his friends home, and locked herself up in her room.

_Yip_

She was supposed to be in charge here! But Klahadore ignored her pleas. She knew she should be firmer with her caretaker. Good intentions or not, she was his boss. His employer. He shouldn't walk over her like that!

_Yip_

But... despite her frustrations, she knew it was her fault. She still saw Klahadore as one of her best and most trusted servants. When she remembered all of the good times she had with him, it was hard to put her foot down. She had never been very assertive, and it was especially hard with him.

_Yip!_

Kaya was brought out of her internal turmoil by the soft sound of a light bark. She looked around her room, but couldn't find the source of the sound. Just as she was about to chalk it up to her imagination, she heard it again.

_Yip!_

She turned to her window, and gasped. There, sitting on the branch where Usopp would usually hide, was a small golden fox. It met her gaze and wagged its bushy tail happily. It yipped again at her and she softly smiled at the sight. It was cute. She wondered what its fur would feel like...

She gave the door a small glance, as if expecting Klahadore to immediately burst in and scare the small animal away in his usual 'mother-hen' way. She pushed the thought from her mind and stood up off her bed, walking to her window, she opened it up to get a better look at the fox.

It was cute. She had never seen anything like it before... She didn't know their little island even had foxes. Strange. The small creature stole her thoughts away from her butler, and she was grateful for it. "Hey there little guy..." She spoke softly, trying not to scare it away, "How'd you get up in that tree?"

The fox yipped in response, as if understanding her, and turned to face the trunk of the tree. With two quick hops, the fox was back on the ground.

She frowned as she thought the fox was leaving, but it turned back to face her. Giving what she could've sworn was a smirk, it dashed forward, using its claws to grip the bark, and ran straight up the tree. She gasped in shock as it made its way back to the branch, and settled in front of her.

"Wow," She said, "You're pretty good."

The fox raised its nose in the air smugly, and she let out a small giggle.

"I wish I could keep you around..." Kaya said softly, "I've always wanted a pet. It gets lonely around here."

The fox tilted its head at her words. Its blue eyes watching her carefully.

Were fox eyes normally blue? She didn't know.

"But Klahadore says having animals around would just make my sickness worse." She frowned, placing her arms on the windowsill to lean on it. "He's always so overprotective. It's like he doesn't want me to have any fun..."

The fox let out a whine and she gave a weak smile, "Sorry... I guess you don't want to hear me complain, huh?"

The fox tilted its head again, and looked at the window. Then at the branch, and the window again. It backed up a few steps on the branch. It leaned down, as if preparing to-

Kaya jumped back with a shriek as the fox quickly dashed across the branch, leaving it with a leap. It cleared the distance between the branch and the window easily, flying into her room. She stumbled back and landed on her bed just as the fox touched down on her floor.

She clutched her hand to her chest to slow her rising heartbeat and looked at the fox with disbelief. What had possessed it to do something like that?

The fox sat down on the floor just before her bed and looked up at her.

She paused in consideration, taking another glance at her door.

If Klahadore came in and saw a fox in her room...

She didn't want to imagine what he'd do.

But on the other hand... She looked down at the fox again. She had never really had any experience with animals before. And this one was far too cute for her to simply push away.

The fox let out another small whine and stepped forward, prodding at her leg with his nose.

Just a little bit wouldn't hurt anything, right?

Tentatively, she reached her hand down to touch his head. _'Soft.' _Kaya thought as she ran her fingers through his fur. She had expected the fur to be rough and knotted, but it was soft and silky. Honestly, it was softer than anything she had ever felt, and she was instantly enthralled with petting him.

Before she knew it, the fox had leapt up to her bed, and crawled into her lap. But she didn't mind. She didn't consider her bed getting dirty, or her butler coming in. She was lost in her experience with the small animal. She cooed as he started to purr in her arms, and she scratched behind his ears.

To her, it was something she hadn't known she needed. To simply forget everything for a moment and do something she wanted.

But sadly, something had to come along and ruin her perfect moment.

A loud knock nearly had Kaya jump out of her skin, and the fox stiffened in her arms.

"Miss Kaya? I heard you scream, is everything okay?" The voice of Klahadore made her subconsciously grip the fox tighter. She didn't know why she felt so uneasy around him recently, but something felt wrong.

"I'm fine." She answered in a clipped tone, making it clear she didn't want to talk.

"It's time for your lunch, Miss Kaya..." His voice carried through the door.

"I'm not hungry." She replied.

He sighed loud enough for her to hear it, and spoke firmly, "I'm coming in."

She froze in panic. Realizing that her newest friend was about to be chased away. But luckily for her, the fox seemed to understand the danger, and jumped out of her arms swiftly. Before she could even move, the small animal dashed under her bed, hidden from sight.

"You know you'll upset the cook if you don't eat." Klahadore said as he entered without permission, "He works-" The butler paused as he inspected the room, looking for anything amiss.

"What were you doing, Miss Kaya?" He asked, noting her spot on the bed facing the opened window. "Is that trespasser back? I'll have to call the guards." His voice was laced with distaste.

"Usopp is no trespasser." She shot at him, "He was always welcome until you-" She broke off her sentence before she said something she couldn't take back.

The butler sighed again, as if disappointed in her, and moved the food cart closer to her bed. He left it beside her bed and walked over to her, "You know that liar is no good for you Miss Kaya. He and his good-for-nothing fath-" Suddenly Klahadore's speech was cut off as his foot was caught on a small box sticking out from beneath her bed. He tripped and fell forward, face-planting rather ungracefully on the ground as he failed to catch himself.

Kaya snuck a glance over at him but didn't say a thing. Normally she would've been rushing to his side, making sure he was okay. But today... she didn't feel like it. Especially when he was bad-mouthing Usopp in front of her.

A small smile almost made its way onto her lips, but she concealed it quickly. No matter how upset she was with him, she wouldn't laugh at his expense.

Klahadore pushed himself off the ground and turned to look at the box that had tripped him. He was certain that box wasn't there a moment before. He was always careful about his movements, it was a byproduct of his fighting style. Had his senses gone dull? Impossible.

He picked himself up and moved to push the box safely beneath the bed again, "You should really keep your room clean, Miss Kaya. It is unbefitting of a lady to leave her things about."

She said nothing, not in the mood for a scolding from her caretaker. She was slightly curious about the box. Had she really left it out? She didn't remember touching anything under her bed in weeks at least. Her thoughts strayed to her small little guest. Could the fox have done that? Maybe it had moved something around while it was hiding.

Klahadore moved beside her and gestured to the bed, "May I sit?"

"No."

The butler frowned and pushed his glasses up with his palm. It seems his 'Mistress' was too upset to see reason, he would leave her to think for a while. He gave one last try, "I understand that you think that boy means well. But I assure you nothing good will come from associating with that boy-"

He froze as a soft noise reached his ears. It sounded low and rumbling, like a small animal growling. He caught Kaya stiffening out of the corner of his eye and he turned his gaze to the bed. His brow furrowed as he walked to the other side of the bed, beside the food cart. He quickly crouched down and peered beneath the bed.

Kaya froze in worry as Klahadore went to investigate the sound. What was the fox doing? Why was it growling at him? Wasn't it trying to hide? She was lost in her worry, and nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt a weight suddenly land on the bed. She managed to conceal her squeak of surprise, and looked over to see the fox had jumped up just as the butler looked beneath the bed. It gave her one short glance before burrowing beneath her mess of pillows, hidden from view.

She couldn't contain a small smile, and was glad her back was to her butler so he wouldn't see it. "What _are_ you doing Klahadore?"

The butler got to his feet with a huff, "I heard something. Must've been a mouse." He said curtly.

"I think I would like to be alone." She said. A polite way of telling him he had overstayed his welcome. Not that she had welcomed him in the first place.

The butler gave a small nod, "As you wish." He promptly left the room, closing the doors behind him.

The moment the doors closed, a small fox peeked out between the pillows.

She climbed up to lay down on the bed beside him. "You scared me... I thought he would've found you for sure. Why did you growl at him?"

Her question was met by the fox crawling forward and nudging her hand. She lifted her hand to scratch behind his ears and the fox purred happily.

She smiled softly as the fox once again took control of her thoughts, dragging her away from any unpleasant feelings she had.

He nipped at her hand, and jumped to his feet, running around on her bed.

She watched him run around her on the bed, "You want to play?"

The fox yipped in agreement.

She bit her lip as she looked down at her freshly cleaned sheets. She knew she probably shouldn't. She should probably take the animal back outside. It was probably wild, and she didn't want to cause trouble for her servants.

But on the other hand... It seemed nice enough. And she thought it felt clean when she was petting it...

Maybe just a little bit. It wouldn't hurt anyone.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I know the 'Buggy being 3x stronger than Alvida' thing might be a bit of a stretch but I figured it was a good rule in general. From what we've seen in the show, Bounty price dictates strength pretty accurately. The only exceptions being the Warlords.

Just to clear up a few things. People have been a bit confused about the Impel Down situation. This is a quote from the wiki, referring to the final level of Impel Down, _'__It is where prisoners who are insanely powerful, have caused crimes extremely atrocious, and/or whose mere existences have become a major threat to the World Government itself are kept.'_ This basically means that, in order to get tossed into Eternal Hell, Naruto only needs to check one of those boxes. So he doesn't necessarily need to be extremely well-known and/or powerful. He simply needs to be viewed as a threat to the World Government.

Someone like Ace, the son of Roger, would likely get tossed into Eternal Hell or executed even if he didn't have a bounty. Simply because they view him as a threat.

So yes, Naruto isn't necessarily on the level of some other Grand Line pirates like Crocodile. Is that realistic? Honestly, I think it is. He was inside Impel Down for a full year, and then spent the year after recovering from the ordeal. So that's two years of 'training' lost.

Simply being on the Grand line at one point in your life doesn't suddenly make you some superhuman fighting machine. Buggy is a prime example of this. He was a member of the most powerful crew in the world... yet he gets his ass kicked immediately.

Also, when considering his fight with Lufia. Both of them only used very basic stuff. I didn't want to reveal all of his abilities immediately, because I thought that'd be boring. He still has tricks up his sleeve, don't worry.

As for Naruto's Sake, I figured it would be appropriate since pretty much everyone in the crew drinks in One Piece. The name Firebrand isn't original, but a ton of stories I've read on Naruto Fanfics either call it Firebrand or Mount Myoboku Sake or something like that. I didn't really want to come up with some original name.


End file.
